medved' and kul't lichnosti

[Dieter Stern]

>The first question has to do with the word "medved'."  I heard somewhere
>(it seems from a reliable source) that the early Slavs or Russians had a
>different word for "bear" but began using the more metaphorical "one who
>knows where the honey is," due to the superstition that pronouncing the
>name of the beast might somehow conjure it up.  Is this true?  If so,
>where is it documented?  Are there other such superstitions in early (or
>contemporary) Slavic/Russian culture (fear to write/speak the name of a
>deity or malevolent force)?
>
>Michael Brewer                  e-mail  mmbst35+ at pitt.edu
>Department of Slavic Languages  fax     1-412-624-9714
>1417 Cathedral of Learning      voice   1-412-661-4722
>Pittsburgh, PA 15260

The original Slavic word for "bear" should certainly be identical with the
Indoeuropean word found in Old Greek arktos, Sanskrit rksha, lat. ursus and
elsewhere. The Germanic, Baltic and Slavic languages replaced this original
word, probably because of a kind of tabu connected with hunting. You'll
find an article on the topic by Emeneau in Language 24, pp. 56 ff. As far
as I know, there is no written record of the Slavic cognate of the
Indoeuropean word. Sobolevskij (Slavia 5, 449), however, believed the first
part of the Russian word roso-makha "Gulo borealis" to be related to the
Indoeur. word. But this has been rejected by Vasmer (Etimol. Slovar' Russ.
Jaz. III 504).

Dieter Stern
Bonn University
Germany