--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Alvin Ekmekciu" <a96_aeu@...> wrote:
>
> Hello !
>
> Is there any etymology for Albanian <tru>, brain ?
>
> Alvin
************
Alb. <tru> âbrainâ is left without any further explanation about its
etymology in âEtymologisches Wörterbuch der Albanesischen Spracheâ
(1891) by Gustav Meyer, who notes that best form is <truja> and
<truri>, Gheg <trû>, <trûja>, plural <trutë> âbrainsâ. He has
mentioned also Kavaliotiâs usage for âmarrowâ and De Radaâs usage for
âmindâ. (pp. 438.).
I think that Alb. <trûni/truri> is originally a n-stem noun, like
<drûni/druri> âtreeâ with collective form <truja>, like <druja> from
*druwa:.
Being a taboo word, it has no common form in different IE languages
(cf. Lat. cerebrum, Greek to mialo, ho enkephalos, Slavic mozak,
English brain, German Hirn etc.).
Albanian form <tru> has many compounds: tru-hollë âvery smart;
literally with thin brainâ, <tru-trashë> âvery stupid; literally with
fat brainâ, <tru-tharë> âlame-brained; literally with dried brainâ,
<tru-rrjedhur> âidiot, senile; literally with flowed brainâ,
<tru-dalë> âbrainless/stupidâ etc. Even more, in accordance with word
<mendje> âmindâ, <tru-femër> âvery creative; literally with female
brainâ and <tru-mashkull> âvery ignorant; literally with male brainâ.
Etymologically speaking, Albanian <tru> âbrainâ is hard to be seen as
a simple word. I think itâs from t-ru, where t- is a prefix like in:
t-eh, t-ah, t-rim, t-ban etc. So, -ru is a bound morpheme and I guess
that it could be from suffixed zero-grade form *r.H1-nu of the root
*re:(i)- âto reason, countâ or from zero-grade form *ruH- of the root
*reuH- 'to smash, knock down': Norvegian rugga 'coverlet', cf. cerebrum.
Any help?
Konushevci