--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:
> Another common (especially non-Orthodox) word used to
>translate 'hell' in Slavic languages is *pIkUlU 'cauldron for
>boiling pitch' > Pol. piekl/o, Cz. peklo (also --> Hung. pokol).
Maz^iulis separates OPruss. <pyculs> (Acc. sg. <pekollin>,
<pycullien>, <pickullien>) 'hell' < *pikulas <- West Slavic
*pIkUlU 'id.' from the etymon behind OPruss. <Picullus>,
<Pecols> 'chthonian god', <picku:ls> (G. sg. <pjckulas>,
<pickullas>,<pickullis>, Acc. sg. <pi(c)kullan>) 'devil', Lith.
<pikùlas>, <pykùlas> 'devil', Latv. dial. <pikuls>,<pikals> <
*pikulas 'hostile being' and derives the latter (through *pik- 'to be
hostile' + *-ula- or *piku- 'hostile' + *-la-) from PIE *peik(^)- (~
*peig-) 'be hostile, hate'.
If he is right, the Baltic words in question must have influenced the
semantic development 'pitch' > 'hell' of the Slavic *pIkUlU ~ *pIcIlU
(< PIE *pik-, if not borrowed from Latin <picula> '(a small amount
of) pitch' > 'pitch', with usual "dediminutivization" pertaining to
Vulgar Latin).
Sergei