>What is the origin of root "MIR" in Russian language, in meaning "world"?
>Do some other Indo-Europeans have root "MIR" in this meaning (world)?
>And, what is the ethimology of the following words from Germanic mithology:
>Ymir, Mimir, Hymir, Bergelmir, Buri, Bor, Odin, Vili and Ve?
>Are these word of Indo-European origin, or maybe of pre Indo-European
population of north Europe?
Milos Bogdanovic
I don't know any Russian, so I hope my response is not too stupid for such a
learned List.
Might "mir" be two homonyms with entirely distinct etymons? Within the IE
family and over the course of time, naturally cognates can become
unrecognisable; but I usually start my searches on the premise of a variable
vowel and a fixed final consonant, and see what turns up from there.
On that premise, mir=peace might conceivably have English cognates serene,
caress, charity, guard, charm, gracious (Skr gurtas), fairness - and
*faintly possible* garden (OP firdu). Hebrew "cherub" may be an outside
bet.
Mir=world might conceivably have cognates: kara (Hittite=comprehensive, I
have read), Latin terra and per/para/peri, English thorough and world - all
within the concept of "everything there is". The speculation that English
"world" derives from words denoting man+age seems a bit of a stretch, to me.
If one were to change the premise to allow consonantal shifts at the end,
that might allow cognate-status to English "peace", in the mir=peace bunch.
That would be nice.
During the Cold War the West used to scoff at the Soviets' expressed desire
for peace - since "mir" could also be translated as "the world". The
contexts usually allowed such confusion - among those not familiar with the
concept of homonyms, at least.
Gordon Barlow
PS. I am also interested in the origins of Milos's words Bor and Odin, by
the way.