Re: Pagan, heathen: Are these lexemes synonyms?

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97@...>
wrote:

> Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus:
>
> PAGAN : Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin paganus, from
> Latin, country dweller, from pagus country district; akin to Latin
> pangere to fix -- more at PACT. Date: 14th century 1 : HEATHEN 1;
> especially : a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient
> Rome) 2 : one who has little or no religion and who delights in
> sensual pleasures and material goods : an irreligious or hedonistic
> person
>
> HEATHEN : Etymology: Middle English hethen, from Old English h[AE]
> then; akin to Old High German heidan heathen, and probably to Old
> English h[AE]th heath. Date: before 12th century 1 : of or
> relating to heathens, their religions, or their customs 2 :

STRANGE,

> UNCIVILIZED [Thesaurus: of or relating to people who do not
> acknowledge the God of the Bible <ancient heathen sacrificial

rites>

> Synonyms ethnic, gentile, infidel, infidelic, pagan, profane]
>
> In Old Tamil, ajn~a_ni is defined as: 1. person without spiritual
> knowledge; 2. non-christian, pagan
>
> So, the only jn~a_ni-s are non-pagans, christians?

************
I guess that in the word <heath> should have impact <heat>, which, I
am afraid, was motivation of Alb. <vapë> 'heat' from PIE root *wap-
'evil, bad' (<evil> is derived from suffixed zero-grade form of this
root *up-elo (see Watkins, wap-).
Nasalized form of this root is *wamp-, which could derives suffixed
form <vampir> 'devil', common word in East Europe and South Europe.
It's quite interesting that this word is used in connection with
_evil_: <vapë e dreqit> 'evil's heat'. There are in Albanian, I
guess, folk etymology of this word <dhampirës> 'sucking teeth', but I
beleive that have much to deal much more with regular alternation v-
/th-.
Any suggestions?

Konushevci