Shackled Cattle

[Dušan Vukotić]

>But let us imagine that the original meaning was less definite, perhaps “large quadruped” or >the like (the meaning “donkey” of the Armenian reflex is worthy of notice in this context).
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=999#comment-18681

But let us imagine that the original meaning was less definite,
perhaps “large quadruped” or the like (the meaning “donkey” of the
Armenian reflex is worthy of notice in this context).

Or might it be more definite? For instance, why not something like
‘hoof’? Is hoof related to coffin? An unusual question, isn’t it? How
this sounds to you, crazy, foolish, silly… naive?

But, let us first see what the earliest history of hoof might be?
According to Pokorny that word comes from the PIE root *kāpho-/
*k^ō̆pho-. Is the German word Huf (hoof) related to Skr. śapha- (hoof,
claw) and Serbian šapa (paw; Russ. лапа; Cz. tlapa ‘paw’)? Vasmer says
(following the Kluge’s earlier conclusion: …dass an russ. ‘kopát’
angeschlossen werden kann) that Slavic kopito (hoof) comes from the
verb kopati (dig, shovel). Can it be accepted as an unshakable truth?

Is Slavic kopati related to German klopfen (to beat, nock, clap; Serb.
klepati and lupati ‘beat’, ’strike’,‘clap’, ‘pound’, ‘throb’)?

Let us try to go a step further. What if English coin (OFr coigne,
Lat. cuneus ‘wedge’) is related to Slavic kovati (to coin, hammer,
forge; Russ. ковать, Cz. kovat) and klin (quoin, wedge, bolt, nail)?
Greek κόπτω (to hammer, beat, strike) also belongs to the same sort
of IE words.

Is the Serbian verb čupati (pluck, tear out, pull out) in any relation
with English chop? What Serbian čupav (tufted) and čuperak/ćuba (tuft)
have to do with the above-mentioned words? Of course, Serbian čupav
tufted) is not directly related to the Serbian verb čupati (pluck),
but both words are derived from the same root, or from the same basis.

Could we grasp that Serbian stopalo (sole; Russ. ступня) and taban
(sole) are related to šapa (paw; Cz. tlapa, Russ. lapa) and dlan (Pol.
dłoń; Russ.ладонь*; OSl длань)?

Are we able to understand the “unusual” relation between Latin solea
(sole; cf. Gr. σανδάλιον; Aeol. σάμβαλον!) and solum (bottom,
ground, soil), on one side, and the “connection” among Serbo-Slavic
taban (sole), dlan (palm, flat of the hand), šapa (paw; from šlapa/
tlapa), dolina (valley, dingle, dale) and zemlja (earth, soil) on the
other?

Might the Greek word ἵππος (horse, mare) be derived from the above
mentioned κόπτω or κοπτός (pounded, forged; κόπτε δὲ δεσμούς ‘to forge
fetters’)? Is horseshoe a kind of fetter? Compare Slavic okov (fetter)
and podkov (horseshoe; pod-okov, literally ‘under-fetter’; Serb. pot-
kovica, from pod okov; Cz. pod-kova ‘horsehoe’, kovat ‘forge’, koval
‘forged’; Russ.ковать ‘hammer, forge’, подкова ‘horseshoe’, Pol. pod-
kowa ‘horseshoe’, wy-klepywać ‘hammer out’).

English chain is derived from Latin catena (fetter). Although it is
difficult to prove, it is quite possible that catena comes from Latin
capto, similar to the Serbian verbs okovati, hvatati (catch) and
German heften (to tack, staple); German Haft (arrest, jail) is the
word equal to Serbian haps/ana (arrest, jail); cf. Ger. ver-haften (to
arrest) = Serb. hapsiti (to arrest); also Haft (haft, handle) = Serb.
hvat (handle, haft). I suppose I do not need to explain that the
German adjective gefesselt (enchained, bounded) is the same word as
Serbian uvezan/svezan (bounded, tied; Serb. s-veza-li su ga ‘they tied
him up’).

Starting from the “more definite” we are now (unwillingly) pushed back
to the David’s “less definite”. Comparing Latin asinus, Gothic asilus
with the OSl осьлъ (Cz. osel; Pol. оsiоɫ, Sorb. wоsоɫ) it would
probably be possible to imagine (”reconstruct”) the PIE ur-word for
that horse’s cousin; it could be something similar to *ha-hin-lu-s or
even *ha-gni-(b)lu-s. In Serbian, donkey is also called tovar (load,
cargo), because donkey is well known draught animal.

Animals, cabalus and asilus, apeared to be related to the PIE ”root”
for animal.(*ane-). Although it doesn’t look like that, Latin and
Slavic general word for animal are derived from the same basis.
Caballus is nothing else but animal and Latin animal is related to
Slavic životinja (animal) in the same way as čelovek (man) and galava
(head) are related to human and head (OE heafod). One of the arguments
that animal sounded once as g/khanibal is the Breton word aneval
(animal; cf. Lith. gyvulys and Latv. dzīvnieks); also Greek words
ζώων, ζωικός, ζωώδης (animal) seems to be very close to Slavic
životnoe, životinjsko, živinsko, živina (animal).

The main problem here is to “reconcile” two different meanings, kovati
(coin) and živeti (live) and to understand which one of these two was
used as a name for horse (equus = okovan/okovat/hvat/uhvaćen/Haft
‘fettered’ or življenje ‘living’, živo(l)tinja ‘animal’. In some cases
is absolutely impossible to determine the way of evolution of a
certain word although we know exactly the basis from which that word
began its “journey”.

For instance, Gothic asilus sounds very close to Greek ἀσυλαι̂ος
(asylum). Asilus in asylum! :-) Let us first see why the Greeks used
the same word for ‘letters’ as the Serbs did: slova = συλλαβαί
(letters, syllable). There are two possibilities in Serbian. One is
that the word ’slovo’ (letter, word; OSl слово) is related to
’slava’ (glory, celebration; OSl слава; Gr. κλέος ‘fame’, ‘glory’; see
Vasmer p. 3,673) and the Slavic verbs sliti, slivati (pour off;
amalgamate, merge, cast), izlivati (pour out), which is indirectly
related to iz-lagati/iz-ložiti (to tell, speak; Gr. λόγος) via the
verb iz-linuti (pour out; from iz-lignuti). Maybe, it would be
interesting to mention that Greek verb αγάλλομαι (to exult, glory,
jubilate) sounds almost the same as Serbian galama (noise, uproar; cf.
Gr. γλώσσα tongue, language; Serb. glas voice). The other possibility
iz that Greek and Serbian slova (letters) are mutually connected by
the way how the letters were casted (Serb. iz-liti, iz-livati) from
lead (Serb. olovo; from liti, livati ‘pour’, ‘cast’; livid color is in
fact the color of lead). The simillar could have happened to the
English word letter in relation to lead (metal) if the word lead is a
cognate of Latin fluito (to flow; from PIE *plou-d-).

Greek σῡλη means “right of seizure”, “right of reprisal” and it might
be compared to the Serbian nouns sila (force, power), silina
(intesity) and the adjective silan (mighty, vehement, terrific).
Similar as in Serbian, the Greek language has the word συλλείβω
“collect by streaming”, which is equal to Serbian sliv (confluence)
and the verb slivati/slijevati se (to flow; novac se sliva “the money
flows in”).

Above mention “right of reprisal” or “right of seizure” is a “right to
use the force” (Serb. sila ‘force’); also σύλλεκτος ‘gathered’,
Serbian slagati (to gather, pile up). In reality, Serbian sila
(force), Greek σύλησις (spoiling, plundering) and Serbian silovanje
(violation, raping) are the words with the clear association to the
river flowing or the river flooding. As we can see, the both
languages, Greek and Serbian, used the “flowing of water” (Serb.
slivanje “pouring”; Greek συλλείβω “collect by stream”, “flow
together”) to name the letters (Gr. συλλαβαί; Serb. slova) and to
describe a violent behavior (Serb, silovanje, sila; Greek σύλησις,
σῡλη).

Now it becomes clear that ‘asylum’ is a place were the use of force
(Serb. sila) is forbidden (α-̓συλαι̂ος without violence). Most of the
Greek and Serbian words used the same basis, but usually it is very
difficult to detect. For instance, who would say that Greek
συγκλειστός (shut up) is the same word as Serbian zaključati (lock
up, shut)? Above mentioned Serbian silovanje (violence), prisiljavanje
(forcing, compulsion) or siljenje (forcing) are in fact just one form
of sudden movement, similar to the Serbian verb kuljanje/suljanje/
sukljanje (gushing; kuljati to spout, gush) and kuljanje comes from
kobeljanje (rolling about; Eng. hobble) => gibanje (movement, motion,
stir). Namely, it seems that all idea about life and movement is
originally connected to the movement of clouds (Serb. oblak; from
gnoblak => hoblak).

There is a “byname” for donkey in Serbian - sivonja - and that word
(just like caballus) goes back to “animal” (Serb. životinja, živina);
i.e. to the above mentioned kobeljanje/gibanje or življenje (gibati
‘move’ = živeti ‘live’). In order to understand this logic of
“living” (gi-b-lenie => ži-v-lenie; Lith. gyvuoti) the Serbian word
ugibati (to die, perish, expire; Lith. keipti) could be of a great
help. Ugibati/ugi(b)nuti (die) is an antonym to živeti (live). Slavic
konj (horse, OSl конь), from the proto Slavic *kobnь (Vasmer, p.
2316), and kobila (mare) are cognates to Latin caballus (pack-horse).

The diminutive of the word osel (donkey) is oslić and it rhymes with
poslić (a small job). It is hard to tell if Serbian posao has anything
in common with English business (busy; OE bisig). In Serbian, posao is
probably related to the verb slušati (hear) and poslušati (obey; Russ.
послушаться); hence the Slavic words sluga/posluga (servant; OSl
слоуга; Cz. sluha, služebna; Gr. κλύω to hear; κέκλυτέ μευ “hear
from me”, analogous to Serbian saslušajte me “hear me”, “listen to
me”).

Although it is evident that ass/donkey is a man’s servant his name
appeared to have nothing to do with his “servile” behavior. The name
osel/Esel is most probably derived from the PIE root *stol-b-
wherefrom we obtained the words like Slavic stub/stolb (OSl стлъпъ
column, pillar, pole), Eng. stubborn, stub, stupid (OE stybb), Serb.
tupav, zatupljen; dialect. zatupit (stupid). Now we can understand
that osel/Esel is a “stupid animal”, an ass that was named like that
in accordance with his stupidity. One of the key evidences for such an
assumption is Russian word остолоп (ostolop; gawk, chump), also known
as ослоп (metatheses ostolp => oslopt; oslo-p “fool, idiot”; Vasmer,
p. 3,161).

What about the Latin word equus -i (horse)? Is it related to caballus
(pack-horse)? Is the phonetic similarity between word equus, equi-
(horse) and aqua- (water) just a product of pure coincidence? If we
compare Serbian adjectives uhvaćen (captured, arrested, caught) and
ukvašen (soaked, wet) we can suppose that the verb uhvatiti shifted to
ukvasiti in accordance with the Serbian syntagn “uhvatila ga
kiša” (caught by rain). Even the noun kiša (rain) appears as to be
derived from ‘kvašenje’ (wetting, soaking)? Is Latin capto related to
aqua and equus in the same way as the Serbian verbs hapsiti (arrest)
and hapiti (take. seize) are related to hvatati (catch), kobila
(mare), konj (horse; from *kobnь) and possible to kvasiti (soak, wet)?

What about the history of the words like Slavic skot/skotin/stoka
(cattle, animal) and Gothic skatts (money), German Schatz (jewelry),
OFries sket (money, cattle)? Does English catlle really originate from
Latin caput? Why not from Latin capio or habeo or Gemanic haban/habt?
What is the relation (if any) among words capio, habeo, haben, imanje
and caput, heafod, golova, kefalos, globe etc.?

Finally, let me try to answer the question I postulated in the
beginning of this “essay” about the origin of “equally-aqueous-equus-
as/s-caballus“. :-) Is it not interesting that coffin also has the
meaning “the horny part of a horse’s hoof” (Slavic kopyto)? In Serbian
kofa is bucket (kofa from kabao, kabal, kablica bucket, pail) and
coffin is kovčeg (box, chest, trunk) and it appeared to be related to
the noun kovanje (forging, coining, mintage) as well as to kovač
(blacksmith) and to kopča (buckle, fastener, clutch, clasp, fibula).
Maybe, this is a good enough evidence that kopyto (hoof) is related to
kovati (forge) and okovati (shackle); hence possible Serbian govedo
(cattle), from okovati (shackle; dial. okovato ’shackled); okovato
govedo “shackled cattle”?

Posted in Uncategorized | Edit | No Comments »
Guitar Teetering
July 28, 2008 by Dušan Vukotić
English teetering (ON titra, Ger. zittern) sounds almost the same as
Serbian titranje (teetering, vibration, oscillation, seesaw,
tottering).
Is guitar (Gr. κιθάρα, Sp. guittara) related to teeter?
In Serbian the history of the word titranje is completely transparent:
it comes from the Hor-Gon basis, which primal meaning is “circle”;
i.e. krug (circle) => kruženje (circulation; kretanje movement) =>
građenje (build; Slav. grad/gorad city; in fact encircling, encircled
area, the same logic as in case of Eng. enclosure).
Serbian noun rad (work) is derived from the verb graditi (build) and u
(h)raditi (from ugraditi built in). On the other hand, Serbian
ugraditi originated from the gon- prefixed Hor-Gon basis; i.e. from
Gon-Hor-Gon. What are the main acts of applying force in order to
build a habitat? First, is it not striking/hitting (Serb. udaranje;
Slovak udrieť), pushing (Serb. guranje) and driving (Serb. teranje)?
All these tree words (udaranje, guranje, teranje) have the same parent
- the Serbian word ugradnja (construction; verb. ugraditi to build in,
embed). If we take a more careful look at the English word
construction, we can see the similar develpment, beginning with the ur-
basis Gon-Hor-Gon (or rather Gon-Xur-Gon; con-stru-ing, stri-king;
Serb. s-krojiti to tailor, mold; u-strojiti to build, to construct).

Now we are coming to the main point. Guitar is a stringed instrument
and in order to produce the tones one has to strike (Serb. udarati)
its strings (Serb. strune). The Serbian word strune (strings) is
related to the above-mentioned strojenje (constructing; from skrojenje/
skrajanje molding, tailoring, carpentering) and other Serbian words as
striganje (shearing, fleecing), škare (scissors), stroj (machine).
Striking (Serb. udar) always causes teetering (Serb. titranje) as well
as tearing (Serb. trganje) and tremble (Serb. drmanje, trema).

Finally, there is the Serbian word dodir (touch), which has obviously
understood as a small udar (hit, strike, beat; udaranje <= hudaranje
<= hu(n)hara-gne <= Gon-Hor-Gon basis). The erbian syntagm “udarati u
strune/žice” (strike the strings) has the same meaning as the word
“play” (Serb. svirati).