Re: Original meaning of *sweh2dus

On 2010-05-07 01:07, Andrew Jarrette wrote:

> What is the original meaning of *sweh2dus? In Germanic *swo:t- means
> "sweet", in taste but also smell, sound, personality, etc. In
> Sanskrit <sva:du-> can mean "sweet" but I understand it more often
> means "tasty" or "palatable", sometimes "savory", and the verb
> <svad-> I believe means "to season (food)". For "sweet of taste"
> Sanskrit more often has <madhu-> (<"honey"). Lithuanian has
> <su:dyti> (or <su:de:ti>?) "to season", presumably from the weak
> grade of the root, while "sweet" is expressed by <saldus>, which
> probably originally meant "seasoned, flavoured, sweetened" since
> *sal- in all other IE languages means "salt", "salty", or
> "saltwater". Greek <he:dus> can mean "sweet of taste" but more often
> means "pleasant, lovely, agreeable, amiable, kind, dear, etc.". Latin
> <sua:vis> is "charming, pleasant, agreeable, attractive, nice"
> similar to the Greek word, but <sua:de:re> is "to urge, recommend,
> advise", probably originally "use sweetness of manner to influence or
> persuade" (<persua:de:re>).

In LIV, the verb root *sweh2d- is glossed 'schmackhaft werden' and the
resultative adjective, 'angenehm, schmackhaft, süß'. The verb forms
quoted there square well with such an interpretation. Various
"hedonistic" conotations are well visible there.

> Is the earliest meaning of *sweh2dus "sweet to the taste"? Or is it
> "tasty" or "palatable"? Did *sweh2dus mean "sweet to any of the
> senses" or originally only "sweet to the taste"? No chance of "sweet
> in character" being the original meaning, I'm sure? Is *dluku-
> (Latin <dulcis>, Greek <glukus>) an IE word or is it from some
> substrate language in the Mediterranean? Could this be a more
> original word for "sweet of taste"? And is *medhu- certainly
> originally "honey" (I assume the meaning "fermented honey, mead" is
> later) or could it be simply "sweet" as in Sanskrit?

Wasn't *melit- the original word for unfermented honey? My impression is
that the meaning 'intoxicant' for *médHu- is usually regarded as older
(and it means 'honey' rather than 'mead' only in some branches).

Piotr