On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 09:30:05 +0000, andelkod <
andelkod@...> wrote:
>And, all you guys ignored my idea that 'blago' original meaning may
>be 'cattle', and later meaning 'goods'.
>My grandmother still today use word 'blas·c·e' for a cow (singular),
>and 'blago' for cows.
The trouble is that these semantic developments work both ways. There are
cases of cattle -> good(s), but there are also cases of good(s) -> cattle.
The first development can be exemplified by:
*pek^u "cattle" -> Goth. faihu "property", Lat. pecunia "money"
The second development can be seen in:
Greek kekte:mai "possess" -> kte:ne: "cattle"
Spanish ganar "earn" -> ganado "cattle"
Slavic dobyti "earn" -> Cz. dobytek "cattle"
Germanic skatt- "treasure" -> Slavic skot "cattle"
Latin capitale "capital" -> English cattle
English stock -> livestock
Latin habere "to have" -> Basque abere "(domestic) animal"
The Slavic root *bol'g- generally means "to bless, to praise" as a verb,
and "good, happy" as an adjective. Only in the South Slavic languages (but
not attested in OCS) the meaning "cattle", "money", "eating meat" has
developed. Outside etymological connections also point to an original
meaning "good" (< shiny, white): Skt. bhárgas- "strahlender Glanz", Latv.
bal~gans "whitish", Toch. pälk- "to burn, heat, light", Grk. phlego: "to
burn", phlo:ks "flame", Lat. flamma "flame", fulgor "lightning", Germanic
*blank- "white", as well as English "black" (!).
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...