Re: [tied] Re: Alb. "dirt"

----- Original Message -----

From: Abdullah Konushevci

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 12:06 AM

Subject: [tied] Re: Alb. "dirt"

> Couriuosly, Alb. verb dëlir 'clean' is metathetic form of lëdir 'to clean' (cf. lëbyr 'to veil, to dazzle', present also in Dalmatian buriti 'id.' and in Romanian, lëvar 'to bend', lëmek 'to moisten, to weaken') and it seems like English <to dirt>.

 

Does it? I can't see much similarity, or any indication of possible cognacy. Eng. dirt (it's a noun!) is a metathetic variant of ME drit, of Old Norse origin.

 

> Otherwise, <to dirt> in Albanian is 'fëlliq' very similar to English <to filth>.

This similarity is accidental (like most such silmilarities). Eng. filth (a noun too!) < OE fy:lþ < PGmc. *fu:liþo: . It's derived from the adjective <foul>, OE fu:l, just like <depth> and <length> are derived from <deep> and <long>. The PIE base was *pu(h2?)- 'rot, stink', hence *pu:-lo-, etc. I don't know where the Albanian word comes from, but it doesn't look like a loan from Germanic to me.

 

Piotr