Latin and Slavonic for `moon'

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/2/99 10:52:28 PM, MCLSSAA2 at fs2.mt.umist.ac.uk wrote:

<<Slavonic for moon... {luna} means "moon" in Latin and also in Russian. >>

Just a reminder that Slavonic and Russian are not entirely congruent:

'Moon' in Polish is most often 'ksiezyc' (sans accents) - a fascinating word.
Words like 'ksiezy' (priest), 'ksie-stwo' (principality), 'ksiezna'
(princess) and 'ksie-g' (cashbook, register, tally) suggest a rather complex
relationship in the old days involving the moon or the lunar cycle perhaps.

<<But Palmer's book "The Latin Language" says that Latin {luna} < *{louksna:}
[= "the white object">>

Lidell-Scott suggests 'luna' is contracted from luc-na, v. luceo - to shine.
(Lux, lucis, however, is fairly strongly associated with daylight.) L-S also
cites Gr, luchnos, leukos; OHG, lioht and - believe it or not - "Sanskrit,
'ruk', to be bright,..." The moon in Cl. Greek is 'meis, menos' (or 'selene'
- apparently from the Dorian 'selana').  L-S gives (cross my fingers)
'*m&emacrns' as IE stem.

[ Moderator's comment:
  Liddell & Scott can be trusted for definitions, but the etymologies are very
  often holdovers from pre-Neogrammarian 19th Century thinking, unrevised in
  more than a century.  In any case, _luceo_, _lux_, and congeners are related
  to English _light_ and Skt. _ruk-_; the questionable item is their _luc-na_.
  --rma ]

<<after the old IE word *{ma:n-} or similar became taboo due to
superstition].>>

Interesting.  How did we find out about this taboo?

Regards,
Steve Long