On 05-03-03 02:05, A. wrote:
> I am hoping to trace the origins of a few words, I haven't been able
> to come across anything so far and am reduced to begging :^)
Try Pokorny's dictionary online; its better than nothing, and it's
searchable:
http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cpokorny
> 1) Dlí ; Irish = binding principle, law.
> dligheadh = law, right, Irish dlígheadh, Old Irish dliged, Welsh
> dyled, dled = debt, *dligeto-n, Cornish dylly, Breton dle = debt,
> *dl@.gô, I owe; Gothic dulgs; Ch.Sl dlugu
*dHl.gHo- (with derivatives) is a typical "North European" term. AS far
as I know it occurs only in these branches. Slavic *dUlgU may or may not
be an early loan from Germanic.
> 2) Fír, Fírinne ; Irish = righteousness or justice
Same as Latin ve:rus and Ger. wahr; all from *weh1-ro- 'true, trustworthy'.
> 3) Ære (aere) ; Danish = honor
This is ON eir, OE a:r, believed to reflect Germanic *aiso: from the
root *h2ais- 'worship', cf. Goth aistan, Lat. aestumo:. The
reconstruction is a bit uncertain, but possible cognates pop up here and
there (see Pokorny's ais-). Perhaps also *h2is-d[h3]- > Indo-Iranian
*iz^d-, hence Skt. i:d.e, RV i:Le (1sg mid.) 'I praise', famous for
occurring in the very first verse of the Rigveda.
> 4) æ (ae) ; Old English = "law" also meant "religion"
... an marriage. The OE stem is <æ:w-> from PGmc. *aiwiz 'something
long-lasting', related to Ger. ewig and OE e:ce 'eternal', as well as
Goth. aiws 'time, eternity, the world' < *aiwaz and the common Germanic
adverbs *aiwi 'always' (OE a:), *ni-aiwi 'never' (OE na: > Mod.E no).
All this stuff comes from PIE *h2oiu-, gen. *h2jeu- 'vital force, one's
prime, longevity' -- an extremely widespread root with plenty of
derivatives, including also <youth> and <young>.
> 5) Dygd ; Swedish = virtue
It's an abstract noun derived from *dHeugH- > Germanic *deug- 'be
useful/handy/strong', cf. OE dugan (pret. de:ag), Goth. dugan (daug), OE
dyhtig 'doughty'. The same root with similar senses is known from
Celtic, Balto-Slavic (e.g. Lith. daug 'much', Pol. duz.y 'large') and
Greek. Pokorny puts it in the same entry with Indo-Iranian *dHaugH- 'to
milk (a cow etc.)', speculative as the connection is.
Piotr