Re: [tied] enemy

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:

> On 05-03-15 05:21, loreto bagio wrote:
>
> > Can anyone expound or add more on the etymology/history of the
> > English word 'enemy' (allegedly from Middle English enemi, from

Old

> > French, from Latin inimcus ) ? Or of any other IE (or non-IE)

word

> > which means the same.
>
> From Lat. inimi:cus 'hostile, unfriendly' < in- (the negative

prefix) +

> ami:cus 'friendly'. The reduction of medial unstressed *a to /i/

in

> Latin is regular.
>
> <ami:cus> is surely related to Lat. amo: 'I love' and amor < *am-

os-

> 'love', but it's hard to say whether it's the same root *am- that

occurs

> e.g. in family terms such as Lat. amita 'paternal aunt' (the

source of

> Eng. aunt!) or Gk. amma 'mother, nurse'. If so, it would have

originated

> as a nursery word of a very common type.
>

Very common indeed, the Arabic for 'aunt' almost is the same as that
of the Latin. "Amu" is Arabic for 'uncle'. Wonder why it
became 'boss' in Spanish. Andalucian times? Or older?

Loreto