--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
>
> On 2006-04-09 01:15, alexandru_mg3 wrote:
>
> > Any help regarding the etymology of Latin duras
>
> You mean <du:rus>. The most widely accepted (if still somewhat
> speculative) etymology derives it from *dru:ro- < *druh-ró-, from
the
> same root as Lith. drú:tas 'thick, strong'.
>
> > And also of Latin lex
> > (ex. Dura lex, sed lex)
>
> <le:x> is a root noun from *leg^- 'collect, gather' (hence 'count,
tell'
> and eventually 'speak' in post-Homeric Greek, cf.
<logos> 'computation,
> account' --> 'speech, word'), Lat. lego preserves the old meaning,
but
> in <le:x> we have another semantic shift: 'collection' --> 'list
of
> regulations' --> '(the) law'.
>
> Piotr
Thanks, for the answer.
Some issues that I could see:
a. For Latin du:rus
It's not 'more simple' to link Latin du:rus with Sanskrit dur (dur-2
in M-W dictionary) in place of Lith. drú:tas 'thick, strong'.
Sanskrit 'dur' (dur-2) has the meaning 'difficult, hard' (almost
identical with the Latin meaning) but also 'very bad, evil'
Some Sanskrit compounds reflecting Skt. dur- :
1. duravagama - 'difficult to be understood'
2. duraavacchada - 'difficult to be veiled or hidden'
3. durabhibhava - 'hard to be overcome or surpassed'
4. durava:pa - 'difficult to be attained or accomplished'
5. dura:deya - 'difficult to be taken away or seized'
6. dura:dha:ra - 'difficult to be conceived'
I know that we have a short u against a long one however the meaning
is almost identical (and maibe we have a laryngeal in the root to
*duhr- ~ *dhur-
b. Regarding: "<le:x>" is a root noun from *leg^- 'collect, gather' "
How we can explain the long e: in le:x in this case ? As I know PIE
*leg^- has a short *e (or I skip something here?)
Viewing this, is not better to link Latin le:x to the same group as
Latin liga:re < PIE lig^- < PIE Root *leig^- 'to tie' ?
PIE *ei > OldLatin ei > Old Latin e: > Latin i:
But Old Latin e: remained *e: in le:vis and became a short *e (from
a previous long one) in Latin deus < *deiwos so at least we could
imagine 'another more or less similar' case for le:x
Thanks again,
Marius