Re: [tied] kuningas <-> knyaz

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 8155
Date: 2001-07-29

Germanic *kuning-az was borrowed into Proto-Slavic as *kUnIng-U (and into East Baltic as *kunig-as, with the second nasal lost through dissimilation) at some point after Grimm's Law but before the Slavic progressive palatalisation. After the progressive palatalisation the word became *kUne~dzI (e~ = nasal [e]) 'duke, prince', hence Russian kn'az', Czech kne^z, OCSl kUne~dzI, etc.
 
Polish shows some curious semantic developments. The Modern Polish reflex of *kUne~dzI is <ksia,dz> 'priest, especially a Roman Catholic one' (pronounced [ks'ondz], where s' = voiceless alveopalatal fricative, a 13th-century dissimilatory substitute for an older palatal nasal [n']). The word meant "prince" (in opposition to <król> 'king') in very early Polish, but by the 14th century it was used primarily as a polite term of address applied to priests. The Proto-Slavic meaning was "inherited" by the Polish derivative <ksia,z.e,> (pl. <ksia,z.e,ta>, originally a neuter diminutive in *-nt-).
 
The family of Polish words based on *kuning- includes also <ksie,z.yc>, now the standard word for "moon" (replacing inherited <miesia,c>, which now means only "month", except in archaic or lofty styles). This word derives from *kUnIng- plus patronymic *-itj-, meaning "son of a prince", an epithet revealing (rather vaguely) something about the role of the lunar deity in Slavic mythology. Perhaps the young moon was regarded as the child of the previous month's full moon.
 
Piotr
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2001 1:53 PM
Subject: [tied] kuningas <-> knyaz


  Is there any connection between Germanic *kuningas "king" (as borrowed into Finnish) and Russian (and Slavic) knyaz "prince" (where ya < a nasal vowel). This would presuppose some Pre-Gmc. *kuníngas, I suppose?

Torsten