Re: Vacillare

From: tgpedersen
Message: 61971
Date: 2008-12-08

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@> wrote:
>
> > Wakrolayo:?... There's no uacco: in Latin and uaco: means
> > something else...
>
> I, too, don't like Hofmann's etymology *wak-ro-layo: > *wakello: >
> vacillo: (cited in my earlier post), so I have made another try.
>
> A. Ernout ("Vaccillo ou talipedo?", _Revue de philologie, de
> littérature et d'histoire anciennes_, ser. 3:1 =53, 1927, p. 208)
> thinks that the Latin verb vacillo: `to sway to and fro, waver,
> totter, vacillate' and its variant form vaccillo:, which appears to
> have existed side by side with it, can be connected to a family of
> adjectives designating deformities of human legs: va:rus, vatius,
> vata:x, and vascus.

I agree, but look here, one click removed from the Pokorny gloss you
referred to:
Baltic: http://tinyurl.com/58gxwq
Germanic: http://tinyurl.com/5rnlkn

(as usual Pokorny neglects Danish; there's none of the vang "sides of
a ladder; (part of) field" stuff which Swedish doesn't have.


The whole mess of those alternating Baltic and Gmc alternating roots
might possibly be cleared up if this paradigm was in effect for the
donor language:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/46161
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/46183
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/46264
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/46982
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/52335

In other words,
3sg. *wax-ti, *wa:ti, 3pl. wang^énti, ppp. *wax-tó > *wak-tó-
I think such a language, if it were also an a-language, might give us
those of the roots which have root vowel /a/, the rest might be
'regular' Germanic, with /en/ > /in/.



> Pokorny suggests the following Latin adjectives, all referring to
> certain malformations of human legs, may be extensions of the PIE
> root *wa:- `apart':
>
> 1) va:rus `bent (apart), stretched, or grown inwards; hence, of
> persons with legs bent inwards, knock-kneed' (this adjective may be
> cognate with valgus `having the calves of the legs bent outwards,
> bow-legged' if the latter term is not from a guttural extension of
> PIE *wel- `to turn, bend') > va:ricus `with feet spread apart'
>
> And, from the dental extension *wa:-t-:
>
> 2) vata:x `having crooked feet'
>
> 3) vatius `bent outwards' (hence, of person with legs bent
> outwards) > vatia `a bow-legged man'
>
> 4) vascus (badly attested, and perhaps from *vat-scos) `across,
> transversal, slant'

And here is de Vries on ON:
'váma f. 'unwohlsem',
nisl. voma 'ekel; unsicherheit',
nnorw. vaam 'mudigkeit, unwohlsein, dunkelheit', zu
vaamen 'nicht ganz frisch'
(> shetl. vomin, vomd 'leicht verwest von fischen, s. Jakobsen 1019),
vgl.
nisl. væma 'ubelkeit empfinden', vœminn, nnorw. dial. væmen 'ubel',
abl. aschw. vami 'ekel', vamul,
nda. vammel 'ekelhaft',
und nnorw. dial. vimra 'ubelkeit verursa­chen',
vimla 'ubelkeit empfinden'. —
ai. vamiti, gr. eméo:, lat. vomo, lit. vemiù, vémti 'erbrechen'. —
vgl. vam­la, vamm, vámr, und oman.
vamla schw. V. 'übel werden', nisl. norw. vamla, nda. vamle. —
ne. wamble.
— vgl. váma.

vamm n. 'schaden, gebrechen, flecken', nisl. far. vamm, nnorw. vam
'ungluck'.
— > shetl vam{m) 'zauberkraftige einwirkung; slechte gesinnung'
(Jakobsen 977), > finn. vamma, vammas 'fehler, gebrechen, wunde'
(Thomsen 2, 227). —
got. wamm 'flecken', ae. afr. ahd. wamm, as. wam 'flecken, schande';
abstr. zu adj. got. unwamms 'tadellos', ae. wamm, as. ahd. wam
'schlecht'. —
vgl. vo,m und viell. zu váma (Uhlenbeck PBB 30, 1905, 324).
Zur bed.entw. s. Weisweiler IF 41, 1923, 46. 'beschadigung, fleck,
schmutz' > 'ehrenkrankung, tadel' > 'Schandtat, laster'.
vámr m. 'ekelhafter mensch', nisl. vomur. — vgl. váma.
vo,mm f. 'schande'. — vgl. vamm.
'

and to make matters worse, it has (says I), a g- variant

'gabb 'spott', nisl. fär. gabb, aschw. gab und gabba schw. V. 'zum
narren halten',
nisl. fär. aschw. gabba, adä. gabbe. —
me. gabben 'spotten, betrügen', afr. gabbia 'verklagen', mnl. gabben
'possen machen', mnd. gabben 'narren' (aus germ. stammt afrz. gab
'spott', nfrz. gaber 'hänseln' und nicht umge­kehrt! s. Gamillscheg 449).
Frequentative nebenformen:
mnl. gabbelen 'lachen, schwatzen' und nnl. ginnegappen neben älter
ginnegabben 'kich­ern', daneben nhd. gaffeln 'lachen, schwatzen', ae.
gaffetung 'spott'.
Die reiche entw. beweist den germ. charakter; hinzukommen
onomatopoetische bildungen (Ehrismann PBB 22, 1897, 564).
Wechselformen sind weiter
*gaB vgl. prät. gafði; s. für Wechsel bb: B v. Friesen, Mediogem.
36-40 und Bloomfield, Fschr. Sievers 1925, 101) und
*gap (vgl. gapa; s. für Wechsel bb: p Hellquist GHÅ 14, 1908 Nr 2, 13).
Dazu noch mhd. gampel, gimpel 'mit dem man seinen spott treibt',
gampen 'scherzen' (Solmsen IF 30, 1912, 7).—
vgl. gambra.
gamall adj. 'alt' auch PN., nisl. gamall, fär. gamal(ur), nnorw.
gamal, nschw. gammal, ndä. gammel, vgl. shetl. gammel (Jakobsen 200).
— ae. gamol, mnl. gamel, ahd. gamal- 'alt';
dazu ae. gamelian, mnd. gamelen 'alt werden', as. gigamalo:d 'betagt,
bejahrt'. — vgl. gemlingr.
Erklärung ist unsicher:
...

gaman n. 'freude; spass; wollust', nisl. fär. nnorw. gaman, nschw.
gamman, ndä. gammen. — ae. gamen, afr. game, gome f., as. ahd. gaman
'freude, Unter­haltung, spiel', mnl. game 'streich, spott'. — Weiter
gehören dazu adä. gammel, mhd. gamel 'scherz', nhd. dial. gammel
'wollust', und nnorw. dial. gams 'ausgelassener scherz', nisl. gems
'anstössiges betragen', nnorw. dial. gamast 'sich freuen, spassen';
vgl. gamðir, gamna, gemsa und gumsa.
Weitere anknüpfungen unsicher. Vielleicht grundbedeutung 'hüp­fen,
springen' (Wiedemann BB 27, 1902, 202) und dann zu lat. fumus 'rauch',
gr. thúmos 'gemutswallung, geist', ahd. toum 'dampf, dunst' (WP 1,
678); andere dagegen zu gr. athembou~sa 'ausgelassen' (IEW 490). — Mit
präf. ga- aus *ga-am zu lat. amare (Wadstein IF 5, 1895, 8;
unmöglich). — Zu der unter gamall erwähnten wzl *gam 'ernähren, essen,
sich freuen' (Rooth, Altg. Wortstud. 42).
gamban- in Zss. gambansumbl 'feier­liches gelage', gambanreiði
'grosser zorn', gambanteinn 'zauberrute'.
Erklärung unsicher. Ansprechend < *ga-amban (zu o,mbun), eig. partiz.
zu dem in afl und afli vorliegenden stamm *aB (v. Ha­mel Nph 17, 1932,
136-43 und 234-9). — Dagegen wenig ein­leuchtend zu einer wzl *gam
'ernähren, essen', also wie gamall und gaman (Rooth, Altg. Wort­stud.
45). —
Unmöglich < *gand-band (A. Kock ANF 27, 1911, 114-21). —
Man muss wohl von einer magisch-religiösen bedeutung ausgehen.
gambr m. 'greif (spät bezeugt). — vgl. gammr.
gambra schw. V. 'sich brüsten, prahlen', nisl. gambra. — vgl. gimbing.
Möglich mit nasal-infigierung zu gabb, oder erw. des in gana
vorliegenden Stammes; in beiden
gammr, gambr m. 'greif, nisl far. gammur, nnorw. gamber, nschw.
gam(m), ada. gam. —
Zusammenhangend mit oder eher mittelbar entlehnt
< mhd. gampilu:n, gabilu:n 'drachenartiges tier'
< roman. vgl. span. gavilan 'sperber', piov. gavanh 'raubvogel'.
gamna schw. V. 'erfreuen', nisl. gamna, ae. gamman. —
vgl. gaman.'

and is therefore substrate (says I too).



> According to Ernout, vacillo:/vaccillo: (uacillo:/uacillo:) can be
> derived from an unattested Latin adjective *uaccus on the analogy
> of offa :: ofella, mamma :: mamilla, pu:s(s)us :: pusillus, saccus
> :: sacellus etc.

But oddly enough, that adj. already exists in Gmc.:
Goth. un-wah-s "blameless", OHG wo:h "krumm, ungerecht".


> The suffix -co in the posited adjective *uaccus is
> characteristic of deformities: compare the adjectives mancus,
> broc(c)us, raucus, caecus, as well as the denominative verb pecco:.

Aha. pecco:


> *uaccus could have derived either from *wa:-t(o)-ko-s (cf.
> Pokorny's root extension *wa:t-, above) or from *wa-:ko-s (cf.
> Pokorny's root *wa:-, above) through expressive gemination of the
> consonant which is "caractéristique de mots de ce type, qui
> appartiennent à la langue familière".

Yup. Mot populaire. Maybe it's time we give a name to that a-language
substrate. Oenotrian? Aboriginal?
http://tinyurl.com/5zrry9
Which of course doesn't preclude uacillo: being a loan from Germanic
or a substrate of Germanic (and Baltic and Baltic Finnic)


> Lastly, Ernout thinks that an equally unattested denominative verb
> *uacco: may have bridged the gap between *uaccus and uaccillo:.

It did too. In Germanic, or rather High German, which is surprising.
And it's documented.

> This is because the formation of uaccillo: reminds him of those of
> sorbillo: from sorbeo:, of su:gillo: from su:go:, of murmurillo:
> from murmuro:.

It reminds me of the rather frequent frequentative -el- of German.

> I have also found mention of an interpretation by F. Sommer
> according to which the gemination of the consonant in uac[c]illo:
> could be motivated by a folk etymology connecting this verb with
> the term vacca (uacca); thus, uaccillo: = `to waddle like a cow'!

How about this:
Gmc. wank- "vagari", so, vacca = a cow left to its own devices in the
meadows (*vang-), as opposed to one in the stable?
http://runeberg.org/svetym/1177.html


Torsten