20-10-03 17:13, Egijus wrote:
> Can it be that word KUNINGAS have come from Lithuanian word
> KUNAS. Suffix -ing is being used in Lithuanian language to make
> adjectives from nouns. For example, word MISHKAS means FOREST, but
> word MISHKINGAS means WOODED, word GALIA means POWER, but word
> GALINGAS means POWERFULL, word VERTE means VALUE, but word VERTINGAS
> means VALUEBLE, etc.
Nope. Apart from vowel-quantity problems (/ku:nas/ vs. /kunigas/) and
implausible semantic derivation ('king' from 'body'?), we have Lith.
<kunigas>, not "kuningas", suggesting a Mediaeval borrowing from West
Germanic (cf. OHG kunig etc.), thus less archaic than Finn. kuningas
(which is to all intents and purposes a spectacular loan from
Proto-Germanic) or even Slavic *kUne~dzI < *kuninga- (presumably from
East Germanic). All these non-Germanic examples show that the Germanic
'king/ruler' word was easily borrowable (as was later Slavic *korlj-
[from Charlemagne's name] --> Rom. crai, Hung. király).
Piotr