"Upgrading" English

[Charles Mills]

I don't have the benefit of my dictionaries at home, but I think Fasmer /
Vasmer says as much: that the two are cognate, or that one is a borrowing
from the other.  Presumably the latter -- how old can healing with leeches
be?  Check Vasmer.  In Czech, doctor is lekář and medicine is leky to this
day.  With respect to сидеть, this one is clearly a cognate, older than
either individual langauge.  Look at the vowels gradations and t~d
alternation: сидеть, садиться, сесть, сяду, седло, село (Czech sedlo), сад,
сажа, etc.  Cf. English sit, sat, seat, settlement, saddle, soot, etc.
 Neither is borrowed from the other, both derive from an early stage of the
language (Proto Indo-European).  The best of these kinds of things is wit,
witty, to wit, unwittingly, witch, wisdom, (German) wissen, etc., vs. ведь,
вести, известно, ведьма, (Czech) vědět, and -- the all time best -- невеста.
 Students love them.  Who doesn't?

Sincerely,
C. Mills
Pacific Grove

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