--- In cybalist@..., "wtsdv" <liberty@...> wrote:
> An online Sûdovian (Yatvingian) dictionary
> at http://www.suduva.com/virdainas/ gives
> "(en) spaliskai" with the meaning "(in)
> Ossetian". This word doesn't contain
> the usual 'os(s)-', or '(j)as-' element.
> Can anybody explain the 'spal-' here?
>
> David
The dictionary you cite is a piece of science fiction. As is commonly
known, _no_ Yatvingian (aka Sudovian aka Dainavian) texts have been
discovered yet, and even the status of the "Yatvingian language" is
still discussed (an Old Prussian dialect? a separate West (aka
periferal) Baltic language? some special language, "transitional"
between Baltic and Slavic languages?). Some _very_ tentative and
rather unreliable guesses on the (mostly morphophonological)
structure of the language which have been made by now are based
mostly on the material provided by some southern Lithunian dialects,
presumably influenced by Yatvingian, and on the toponymy (like
_Garbu`s_ 'name of a hill in southern Lithuania', on which base
Yatvingian *garbu`s 'hill' is reconstructed [cf. Old Prussian *garbis
'id.']; the word probably undelies my mother's maiden name --
_Garbus_, so I can afford to "feel Yatvingian" when I need to :) ).
As to the *spal-, it's sometimes hard to understand the logic of the
authos working in the field of science fiction. Probably Jordanes'
_Spali_ (Getica, 28) and/or Plinius' _Spalaei_ (Naturalis Historia,
6, 22) gave some food for his imagination. Cf. also Old Church Slavic
_spolU_, Church Slavic _ispolinU_ 'giant', Old Polish _stolim_ 'id.'.
By the way, the pseudo-Old Prussian construction _en spaliskai_ 'in
Ossetian' is just grammatically incorrect if supposed to mean 'in
Ossetian language'. The only correct variant would be _spaliskai_
(cf. Old Prussian _pru:siskai_ 'in Prussian (language)'; _en
spaliskai_ would be either agrammatical (if _spaliskai_ is supposed
to be an adverb, thus 'in in Ossetic'), or would mean 'in Ossetic
(land etc, rather than language)' (if _spaliskai_ is supposed to be
the dative of an adjective *spaliska: 'Ossetic (f.)', since _en_ +
dative has illative meaning in Old Prussian).
Sergei