[gothic-l] fairhwus & hliftus

[Francisc Czobor]

Hi, Dirk!

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "faltin2001" <dirk at s...> wrote:
> ... 
> Hi Francisc,
> 
> I am interested in the word  "fairhwus" for world. Can you think of 
> an equivalent in another Germanic language. All the other words are 
> more or less easily recognisable but "fairhwus" is not, at least 
not 
> for me. Could it be a loanword? Old high German has "mittingart" 
for 
> world and "aerdha" for lat. terra. Also, "hliftus" for thief does 
not 
> remind me of a Germanic equivalent.
> 
> Otherwise, old high German equivalents to your Gothic examples:
> 
> oHG - Gothic
> suno/sune/sun - sunus
> harto/hart - hartus
> hanto/hant - handus
> float - flodus
> anglih - aggwus
> agalizo (?) - aglus
> todh/dodh - dauthus
> 
> Cheers
> Dirk

the Gothic word fairhwus "Welt / world, terrestrial domain of life" 
(apud Köbler) is considered to be derived from the IE *perqwus "oak" 
(cf. Lat. quercus "oak"), the meaning shift being "tree / oak" 
> "cosmical tree" (of the Germanic mythology) > "world". Its 
equivalents in other Germanic languages denote kinds of trees (for 
instance, German Föhre, English fir).
>From the same IE root are derived also: Goth. fairguni "mountain", 
the Old Norse deity Fjörgunn and also words in other IE languages 
denoting thunder gods (Hittite Perkunas, Sanskrit Parjanas, Slavic 
Perun etc.).
OHG mittingart (= ON midgardr) has also its Gothic equivalent: 
midjungard.
OHG aerdha (Erde / earth) is in Gothic airtha.

The Gothic word hliftus "thief" has no equivalent (as far as I know) 
in other Germanic languages. Together with the verb hlifan "to steal" 
it comes from the IE root klep- "to steal", whence also Greek 
kleptein "to steal", klepte:s "thief" (> cleptomania!), Lat. 
clepere "to steal".
German Dieb / English thief have also a Gothic equivalent: thiubs / 
thiufs.

Francisc



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/wWMplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>. 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gothic-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     gothic-l-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/