Re: Brugmann's Law

On Pet, siječanj 18, 2008 1:08 am, Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> On 2008-01-18 00:39, ualarauans wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the clues. BTW I heard a weird idea that these words
>> originally were a part of a sacral vocabulary utilized in fertility
>> cults and that their semantic degradation started with Christianity.
>> Etymological parallels in other IE languages if found could shed
>> some light upon this.
>
> That the verb could have had some sacral use in PIE is hardy a weird
> idea, especially if the Zephyrus connection in Greek can be defended
> (note, though, that {yabH-} doesn't occur in the RV). On the other hand,
> I don't know of any evidence that it was still so used till the advent
> of Christianity.
>
>> Makovsky in his Sravnitel'nyj slovar' mifologic^eskoj simvoliki v
>> indoevropejskix jazykax (1996) reconstructs for the "basic formula"
>> _j**b tvoju mat'_ the original meaning "be thou cursed with [my]
>> word/hand" (pp. 188-201, s.v. kliatva). I'm not sure if that makes
>> sense. Opinions?
>
> Now, this _is_ weird. Why not take the phrase at face value?

Well, "I'll fuck your mother" definitely *sounds* like a curse... In
Croatia, we have a version of this one including the dog.

Mate