Re: *Twah-

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
wrote:

>
> 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

*********
I'm surprised to learn that the Old Prussians bathed with
sponges and that this is reflected in the limited Old Prussian texts
(mostly religious I believe) that survive. Even in the Bible, from
the shores of the Mediterranean (certainly more Porifera-friendly
than the Baltic), the only sponge is I believe that on which Jesus
on the Cross was offered vinegar. Or am I taking "sponge" too
literally?
Dan Milton