--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>However, the similar distribution of Slavic *-In- : Lith. -ing- is
interesting and calls for an explanation. (But what about Lith. -i`ni-
as in <vakari`nis> or <z^iemi`nis>? Don't they correspond to
*vec^erInU, *zimInU ?)
>
Yes, -i`n- suits much more here. I must admit my intuition must have
failed in determining the exact semantics of -ing-. The sources I
have at hand, while not trying to etymologize, consistently state
Baltic *-i:'ng- (Lith. -i`ng-, Latv. -i^g-, Pruss. -i:ng-) is a
characteristically innovational formant with the 'having the full
quality of, full of' semantics, while semantics of *-in- is something
like 'related to, of'. On the other hand, Slavic *-In- seemes to have
both semantics.
I also prepared a large post on Jatvingians yesterday night, but lost
it due a computer crash. In short:
to make my story less sensational I should note that Old Polish
*jac'ving (?), rendered as 'gens Jaczwingorum' by Dl/ugosz must be
considered. May be it reflects a common nickname, popular between
Slavs, or have developed under the East Slavic influence. On the
other hand, mediaeval Latin (properly German) sources don't actually
show any -ing-: (quoting from memory)
'(terram) Jetuen uocant' (-en from German toponymic neutrum, like in
Bayern?)
'Jetuese' (ethnonym) (<East Slavic?)
'(terra) Jotuiorum' (<*ja:tvi:-?)
One of the most characteristical features of Jotvingian hydronymy is
a strong tendency to form hydronyms with the -i:ng- suffix (with
meanings like 'a lake full of stones', 'a really deep river' etc), so
*ja:tvi:ng- could be a pejorative nickname given them by the
neighbouring Balts (something like 'those ingers from *Ja:tva:').
Interstingly enough, all of my sources state that in toponymy, a
characteristic [Jatvezi etc]:[Su:duv-/Da:inav-] border in general
matches the ethnic [the Slavs]:[the Balts] border. The more so, it
seemes the Balts have never called Jatvingians *ja:tv(i:ng)-, but
rather *Su:d(u)v- or *Da:in(u:a)v-, which probably supports merely
Slavic origin of the Slavic *jatve,gU.
Sergei