26-06-03 18:50, Abdullah Konushevci wrote:
> <Zot> for 'God'.
The meaning of <zot> is actually more general: 'lord, master, sir, Mr.',
etc.; the female counterpart is <zonjë> 'lady, mistress, madam, Mrs.'.
It was once customary to regard <zot> as a derivative of PIE *djeu-, but
the currently accepted etymology is far more beautiful (and much more
plausible semantically): masculine *wik^ah2-poti-, feminine
*wik^ah2-potnijah2, corresponding to Skt. vis'pati-, archaic Lith.
vies^pati-, literally 'village/community chief'. The derivation looks
crazy but is formally flawless. To quote Niels Bohs, it's crazy enough
to be true.
Piotr