--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:>
> > 1) Dlí ; Irish = binding principle, law.
>
> *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'.
>
I can't find dhl or weh1 in the AHDIER, am I missing something? I
assume I'm not understanding the abbreviations correctly but I was
unable to find a list of abbreviations in all the list files.
> > 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.
I found ais in AHDIER - "to wish for, to desire", I'm not certain I
understand the development of aere out of aiso/eir. Any enlightenment
you might shed?
>
> > 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>.
>
I found this origin most interesting,
Are there other terms among the various Germanic tongues that carry
the original meaning of "vital force" or "eternity"?
To my knowledge it is unknown whether the word AE existed as term
for "religion" prior to the arrival of Christianity.
> > 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
Piotr, a great many thanks for your help, it is deeply appreciated!
I hope you'll guide me where I'm messing up!
Sincerely,
Aydan