Re: [tied] *Twah-

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

>From: tgpedersen
>To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 3:04 PM
>Subject: [tied] *Twah-
>
>from Møller:
>
>Gothic 'Twahan', OHGG 'dwahan', OE 'Twe:an', ON 'Twa:'
>(Dan. 'to:' "abluere, wash clean, wash away",
>Gothic 'Twahl', OHG 'dwahal' "bath"
>OHG 'dwahilla', 'dwehila', German 'zwehle', 'quehle' "washing >cloth,
>towel",
>OPruss 'twaxtan' "bathing sponge"
>
>Hebr d-w-H- "abspülen (den Altar, die Blutschuld)"
>
>
>
>If it's a loan it would be interesting to know whether it was
>borrowed with the religious/legal significance. 'Twahan' is strictly
>about cleaning the body, not clothes (which is where 'wash' comes
>in). Elsewhere in IE, cleaning both in the literal and figurative
>sense is *lu- (AFAIK), but in Germanic that root is still used in
>the figurative sense.
>
>Torsten
>

Oh, it might be just an accident, but in Czech, there is a strange
expression, considered to be of onom.-expr. origin, which I consider very
similar:

c^vaxat (or c^va:xat, c^vaxtat) "to squelch, to slush, to splash about"
(influenced by ca:kat of sim. meaning), to bath or bathe (dimin.)" and it is
also strictly used in connection with the body.

Torsten, could it possibly be a loan from a Germanic source? OPruss. twaxtan
seems even more similar.

There is another, rather dialectal, form: c^van^hat

I can imagine something like c^van^h- < Goth. twahan, but I may be wrong.
Palatal /c^/ and /n^/ might be expressive forms of original /c/ and /n/,
thus c^van^h- < *cvanh- < **cvahan (via metat.), < twahan...? Just a few
ideas...

Petusek