A couple of questions about etymology

[AHetzer]

"Alexey I. Fuchs" schrieb:
>
>         Hello,
>
>         I am trying to trace a couple of slavic words to their roots.
>         The words for example are:
>
>                 1.Doroga (road, Rus.) - I am trying to connect it to
> Hebrew "derekh," taking onto account, apart from phonological similarity,
> the unusual gender of the Hebrew word - it's feminine. The reason for
> being feminine in Hebrew is irrelevant, but the fact itself seems to
> emphasize the connection (light evidence, though).
>                 2. Shlyakh (way, Ukr.) - there is a temptation to relate
> it to Russian "shlyat'sya" (I cannot recall a Ukrainian verb of the same
> origin), but I tend to think it appeared later. Again, in the language of
> the Bible, "lishloah" (li- is an infinitive indication, the root is
> sh.l.h [Hebrew roots are three letters, due to inner flection]) means "to
> send."

snip                                                 Thanks in advance,
>                                                         Alexey Fuchs

--

As a thumb rule, one can say that some words in Hebrew and IE languages
are similar by mere coincidence, although there are several theories
about the common origin of Semitic and IE languages. Exceptions are
several technical terms and/or proper names, e. g. Messias/messiya.

For serious purposes, Max Vasmer's Russian Etymological Dictionary (in
German and Russian translation: Maks Fasmer) is the best reference work.