>
> What's the deal with "leave"?
>
> My dictionary says Proto-Germanic *laib-ian, causative of
> *liban "remain". But if the latter had been **leivan, it might have
> come from **leiGWan, in Verner-relation to *leixWan, from PIE
*leikW-
> "leave", which would be nice. Has this been sorted out already?
--- In cybalist@..., Piotr Gasiorowski <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
wrote:
> It should be PGmc. *laib-j-an- and *li:b-an- (with long *i:, as if
from pre-Germanic *leip- via Grimm and Verner). The choice is really
between PIE *leikW- 'leave, abandon' and *leip- 'adhere, be sticky'.
Both solutions have their advocates. My own preference is for *leikW-
, which is more plausible semantically (and "would be nice" indeed),
and since the occurrence of *f for expected *xW in Proto-Germanic is
well attested, albeit sporadic, I see no serious formal obstacles.
>
> Piotr
>
>
One more reason why it's nice is this would relate the -leben and -
lev suffix to German leihen "lend" and Lehn "fief". That would end
Søndergård's discussion of whether -leben is something left
(inherited) or handed over - it's both, a fief. Also, it would
explain the occasional -legen.
In:
http://www.hausarbeiten.de/archiv/geschichte/gesch-text850.shtml
we find a hypothesis that
"Duler, Dulinger, Duren, Duringer, Turlinger, Tungri, Toringi,
Turonen, Thervinger [Teuringer?], Turcilinger, Teuriochaimai
[*Teurio-haim-?] (Teurisker)"
are names for the same people. For the names of the town Döllstädt
(779 Tullenstat) south of Erxleben and the town Tennstedt (775
Danistath) north of it Gebser proposes roots denoting geological
features (denne "hollow" and tenne "threshing floor"; I believe I
heard them somewhere before?). In my opinion it is tempting to see
the ethnonym "tul-" in the first toponym, and therefore in the second
the ethnonym "dani-"? And of course I find the names Tenneberg and
Tanna interesting too.
The Hermunduri seem to have had a Diana (-> Jecha) cult, cf. the
blood-thirsty Artemis cult of the Tauri.
Gebser assumes that a king Titus mentioned in his sources is calqued
from either the emperor Titus or the writer Tacitus. But there is a
Zeuzleben in Bavaria and Teutleben (2), Tüttleben, Töttleben in
Thuringia (but some from Tut-), so at least the name must have
existed then.
G. equates a king Otterich with the Gothic king Attanarich (+381).
But in Sacsen-Anhalt, near Nordhausen there is an Uthleben (1094
Odenleue, 1139 in Utheleven, 1188 in Odenleibe). So king Otte is
perhaps ... "Odin"?
G. mentions that the wild army of Wodan are said to have lived in the
Hörsel mountains near Eisenach. The Eckhard who preceded them to warn
people, has a -leben toponym too (about 30 km from Eisenach).
He mentions also a Herulian king Tenerich (200-237), which I of
course would un-High-German as Danerik (king Dan?).
There are no -lev names on Bornholm. Albrectsen claims that
inhumation did not take hold there as early as elsewhere in Denmark.
Still in Ottar's journey, Bornholm is an independent kingdom. (In the
days of the sailship it was well-known that a ship should never have
more Borholmers than masts, in case it became necessary to constrain
them by tying them up.)
North of Scania, in Småland in Sweden there two separate areas with -
löv names. One is connected to the river Lagan which runs west to the
Halland coast. The other one, in the landscape of Värend, is
connected to the Helge å running south to Skåne, but separated from
the -löv places at the mouth of that river by a -löv-less area.
Värend is where Olof Rudbeck thought the Heruli settled down when
they returned from the continent.
Given the early date of the -leben names it is surprising to see some
of them with Slavic names: Blattersleben (1277 Bratersleuen), for
once east of the Elbe, supposedly from Bratoslav.
Several of the -lev and -leben names beginning in vowel also occur in
Latin manuscripts beginning with H-.
Svogerslev, Sjælland (1257 Suaverslef), Runic Swaba-harjar, re-
etymologized after Old Da. swa:ghær "brother-in-law". North of
Tretenburg, the central assembly place of the Thuringians, is
Schwerstedt (Swegerstede). This might also be re-etymologized in the
same way. Suevi?
Torsten