About the word ‘beaver’ *bebhrus (Part III)

In some cases these adjectival formations are based on verbs:

*h_aens -u- ‘spirit, god’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:556) < *h_aens-‘to breathe, live’ .

*H_aye-u-n- ‘young, full of life’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:564) < *H₄ey- ‘to live’: Sanskrit yúvā, Latin iuvenis. Lithuanian jáunas with falling tone indicates *H_ayeH₂u-no with an internal laryngeal. A derivative of a verb, hence not a true adjective.

*neǩ-u- ‘dead (corpse)’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:531) < *neǩ- ‘to die’ .

*wel-u- ‘round, spiral’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:561) < *wel- ‘to turn’. English waltz.

*wenH-u- ‘to desire, futuere’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:532 *wenH-): Sanskrit vanu ‘zealous, eager’, Hittite wen ‘futuere’. English to win, wish, ween.

*widh-eu- ‘widow’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:563) < *weidh- ‘to separate, divide’. English widow.

In the next post we'll see how nominal derivatives, very often in relationship with fauna and flora, can be derived from adjectives, as in the case of whelk < *wel-u-ka.

Best. A.

About the word ‘beaver’ *bebhrus (Part II)

For some unclear reasons kinship words belong to the same pattern of u-suffix :

- *dheH₁l-u- ‘suckling’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:558 a dialectal word).

- *magh-u- ‘young adult’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:544). English maid.

- *man-u- ‘man, male’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:544). English man.

- Cf. the word *pu- ‘child’: Sanskrit putrá ‘son’, Latin puer ‘child’, Greek paFís ‘child’.

- *suh_xn-u- ‘son’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:556). English son

- *wet-u- in Latin vetus ‘old’, Balto-Slavic *vẽtusos ‘oldman’. Probably related to *wet ‘year’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:564). Hence not a true adjective etymologically.

Best. A.

About the word ‘beaver’ *bebhrus (Part I)

Before we proceed to explain the Indo-European word ‘beaver’ *bebhrus, it is necessary to make a preliminary survey of a particular set of PIE roots that can be called fundamental adjectives. These words usually have an accented final ú-suffix in Sanskrit and a final suffix  -uis in Latin. In coherence with accent on the final suffix the root is in zero-grade in Sanskrit, a feature that can be interpreted as a sign that this formation is ancient and of true PIE dating. Hittite parkuis ‘clean’ is an instance of this formation in Anatolian, confirming this dating.

In a number of lexemes, it would seem that the suffix is *H-u instead of *u but some items do not seem to involve any laryngeal: *H1ed-u-, du- ‘bad’, *teg-u ‘thick’.

- *H₁es-u- ‘good’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:534 *wesu- ‘excellent’, 538 *(H₁e)s-u- ‘good’): Greek eu- ‘good’, Hittite a-aš-šu-uš ‘good’. 

- *H₁eduōl- ‘evil’, 548 ‘pain’): Sanskrit duṣ, dur‘bad’, ed-u-, du- ‘bad’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:534 *H₁Latin dis, Greek dus ‘bad’. Borrowed as English dys-, dis-.

- *sweH_ad-u- ‘sweet, pleasant’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:549). English sweet. Possibly a derivative of *H₁es-u- ‘good’.

- *pe-u-(H)- ‘to stink’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:557). English foul.

- *pelH1-u- ‘much, many, full’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:546 *pelH1-u-): Sanskrit purú, Latin plūs, Greek polús. English full.

- *re-u-, *H₁er- ‘empty (space)’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:547 *reu-H_x): Latin rūs ‘country-side’, rāris ‘rare’, English room.

- *bhenğh-u- ‘abundant’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:523 ‘abundant’): Sanskrit bahu ‘abundant’, Greek pakhus ‘thick, big’. English big < bugge is usually not derived from this root. Latin pinguis ‘fat’ may belong here in case the initial p- was influenced by the root pei- ‘fat’.

- *pau < *p[e]H-u- ‘few’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:535 a dialectal word): not in Sanskrit, Latin paucus, paullus ‘few’, Greek páuros ‘few’. English few. The word *pu- ‘child’ is probably another root: Sanskrit putrá ‘son’, Latin puer ‘child’, Greek paFís ‘child’.

- *werH_x-u- ‘wide, broad’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:563): Sanskrit urú. Lubotsky posits *H₁urH-u, with an initial laryngeal, probably to account for Greek euru- but this is not the usual reconstruction.

- *H_aenğh-u- ‘narrow’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:546): Sanskrit amhu (only in compound).

- *gʷreH_a-u- ‘heavy’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:539): Sanskrit gurú, Latin gravis, Greek barús. Possibly attested in English quern < OE cweorn ‘sort of hand-turned grain mill’.

- *H₁le(n)gh-u- ‘light (of weight)’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:543): Sanskrit raghú ‘fast, light’, Latin lĕvis ‘light’, Greek elakhús ‘short, small’. English light. This root has a structural similarity with *H₃lig- ‘bad, sick’.

- *teg-u ‘thick’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:535 ‘fat’): only in Celtic and Germanic. English thick.

- *tenH₂-u- ‘thin, long’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:559, 544 *ten-): Sanskrit tanú, Latin tenuis ‘thin, small’, Greek tanaós ‘long’. English thin.

- *pltH₂-u- ‘broad, flat’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:528 *pltH₂-u-): Sanskrit prthú‘broad, large’, Greek platús ‘flat, broad’, Hittite palhi ‘broad’ (without affix -t-). An alternative reconstruction is *plH₂-t-u. English flat.

- *H₂eǩ-u- ‘pointed, sharp’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:554 *H₂eǩ-).

- *dh(o)ng-u- ‘dark’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:531).

- *H₁oǩ-u- ‘fast, quick’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:540). Latin accipiter ‘fast-flying (hawk)’.

- *H₁el-u- ‘red’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:551).

- *H₂el-u- ‘mad, drunk’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:526 h_aelut ‘beer’). English ale.

- *H₂erd-u- ‘(moutain) high’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:540). Latin arduus.

- *mrğh-u- ‘short’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:554). Latin brevis.

- *pek-u- ‘beautiful, rich’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:540). English fair.

- *t(e)s-u- ‘quiet, silent’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:551 a dialectal word).

- *widh-u- ‘wild, uninhabited nature’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:536 *widhu ‘forest’). English wood.

 To be continued.

Best. A.

More on the Indo-European word for ‘panther’ *prd-

As noted before, the Indo-European word for panther is peculiar for having a syllabic r in the root *prd, as shown by Sanskrit prdaku and Greek alternation in pardalis, pordalis.  In addition the syllabic r was stressed.

This feature occurs in a number of other Indo-European words: *wlkwos ‘wolf’, H₂rtkos ‘bear’, *wlp- ‘fox’ and *glH₁is ‘dormouse’. The word for panther is therefore integrated in a paradigm of names of wild animals, which share the unusual feature of having a stressed syllabic l or r.

Even though this root *prd is not widespread among Indo-European languages, there is some internal linguistic reason to think that it must be inherited. A connection with PIE *per(k) ‘speckled’ is plausible. In addition it is interesting to note that Greek parthenos ‘virgin’ is phonetically similar to pardalis, pordalis ‘panther’. This coincidence probably sheds some light on the association of goddesses of fertility and panthers in Anatolia.

Best. A.

An Anatolian word for ‘gold’

In general the Sanskrit word for ‘gold’ hiraṇ(y)a is derived from PIE *ğhel- ‘yellow, gold’. This word is phonetically similar to Sanskrit hari ‘gold’ < *ğhel-. There is nevertheless a problem with the vowel i of hiraṇ(y)a.

As the Sanskrit word for ‘tin, lead’ nāga is itself of Hurro-Urartean origin (< nahh- ‘to flow, melt’), another possibility is to derive hiraṇ(y)a ‘gold’ from Hurrian hiyari *[hijәri] ‘gold’, hence a stem *hir-, *hīr-. This is very possibly another Sanskrit word of Anatolian origin.

Best. A.

An Anatolian word for ‘tin, lead’

Anatolia was once leader in metal-working and metal-casting.

There is an interesting set of similar words: Sumerian nagga from which Armenian anag ‘tin, lead’ is certainly derived. It can be noted that Sanskrit also has this word as nāga with a long vowel.

Diakonov once proposed that this word may originate from India. But it appears that this word is most probably of Hurro-Urartean origin: the root is naH- ‘to melt, cast (metal)’, also attested in Greek nai- ‘to flow’, hence Hurrian naH-ka ‘(molten) metal’, originally ‘tin, lead’. The voiced consonant of Armenian and Sanskrit suggests that this word was transmitted through Sumerian.

Ultimately the Hurro-Urartean root naH-k- ‘to melt, cast (metal)’ is a cognate of PIE *leH- ‘to flow (as of some thick substance like mud)’.

Best. A.

About colts and onagers

An interesting word when it comes to determining the homeland of the Proto-Indo-European language is the English word colt ‘young of horse’. In general no PIE word for ‘colt’ is reconstructed because of the phonetic incoherence of lexical data:

- Germanic: English colt ‘a one-to-four-year-old foal’, Old Norse kult ‘foal, young man’,

- Indo-Iranian: Farsi kurre ‘foal’, Indo-Aryan kišora ‘foal’ (< *kik'eul-),

- Hittite kurka ‘foal’, with Iranian phonetics. 

These incoherent words have an Altaic origin as shown by the following potential cognates:

- Turkic *qulun, *qulum ‘foal’,

- Mongolian *qulan ‘onager’ Equus hemionus,

- Old Japanese kwoma ‘colt’ < (?) *kul-ma,

- Chinese gòu ‘colt, poney’ < *k_loH with unknown first vowel. 

The absence of this “word” *kul- in Pokorny (1959) or Mallory-Adams (2006) is logical: the correspondence of Germanic k ~ Iranian k ~ Indo-Aryan š makes little sense. It should be: h ~ s ~ š. This word is a wanderwort of Altaic origin.

It can be added that Caucasic also seems to have received this wanderwort: Tsezi, Ginukh gulu ‘horse’; Chechen, Ingush gowr ‘horse’. To these words can also be added Farsi gur and Hindi khur ‘onager, wild ass’. The area where wild onagers are attested certainly cannot be the homeland of PIE as the name of the onager *qul was incoherently borrowed at least twice: for colts, and then for onagers properly. 

Best. A.

About Caucasic Tur goats

An interesting Indo-European word for ‘goats’ with a limited distribution is *dig-: Old English ticcen ‘kid’, German Ziege, Albanese dhi, Greek díza ‘she-goat’.

The tendency to be applied to the adult female, as is the case with *H₂ówis ‘sheep’ > English ewe, would indicate that this word has some antiquity but it is lacking in several peripheral branches: Celtic, Italic, Tocharian and Anatolian, which is a problem. In addition its structure *dig- is abnormal, as PIE roots normally do not have two voiced phonemes. The attempt to transform *dig- into a regular *dik- in Mallory-Adams (2006: 141) cannot be accepted. This latter form with a voiceless velar stop does not account for Greek and Germanic.

This abnormal root *dig- is of Caucasic origin: Proto-Tsezian *tˀiqˀw ‘one-year-old kid’: Ginukh tˀeqˀʷi, Khvarshi tˀiqˀʷa, Inkhokvari tˀɨqˀo, Bezhta tˀöqˀä, Gunzib tˀoq-či. Besides Proto-Tsezian has *tˀika, *tˀiga ‘he-goat’: Tsezi tˀeka, Ginukh tˀeka, Khvarshi tˀeka, Inkhokvari tˀɨka, Bezhta tˀiga, Gunzib tˀiga.

Incidentally it can be noted that the Caucasic borrowing *tˀiqˀw > pseudo-PIE root *dig- supports the glottalic theory of PIE, as the ejectives of Caucasic have been adapted as voiced phonemes.

Best. A.

About the word panther



The Latin word panthera is itself a loanword of Greek πανθηρ ‘panther’, related to πάρδαλις or πόρδαλις ‘leopard’ and the later form πάρδος. These forms are related to Sanskrit prdāku ‘panther, lion (also snake)’, from a possible common source *prd-. It is intriguing to see that the dental suffix –d appears only in Greek and Indo-Iranian. This form can hardly be borrowed. This word may have a bearing on the original location of PIE as a relique word. See red (past) and green (present) areas below.

This root has clear counterparts in Hatti p(a)raš- ‘panther’ (Soysal 2004:299) and Russian bars ‘panther’, with a different suffix.

With a velar suffix one finds Sumerian pirig ‘lion’ and Chechen berg ‘leopard’.

Further comparanda include Dravidian words: Kolami (Setumadhava Rao) perpul, Ollari Gadba berpul, Salur Gadba pullu (pl. pulkul), berbullū (pl. berbulkul) ‘tiger’. Tiger is pul and per means big.

Best. A.