Non-native linguistic detachment

[Dennis R. Preston]

Piwnica means only cellar or basement in polish;
a brewery is a piwonia or, especially in western
Poland what I take to be a Germanic loan - browar.

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Non-native linguistic detachment
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Polish "piwo" [p'ivo] - "pivo" [p'iv@] in Russian - is from the Slavic
>verb-root _pi-_ "drink," related in turn to the Homeric and Classical
>Greek verb root _pi-_ "drink." Cf. Homeric
>
>Kuklops, te. _Pi-E_ [w]OInOn. "Cyclops, here. Drink [some] wine."
>
>"Pivnica" means ""brewery" in Russian, but may mean something
>different in Polish. Cf. Czech _zhivot_ "life" (vs. "death") as
>opposed to Russian _zhivot_ "belly. abdomen."
>
>-Wilson
>
>On Dec 24, 2007 11:27 AM, Damien Hall <halldj at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Damien Hall <halldj at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Non-native linguistic detachment
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  dInIs said:
>>
>>  ==================
>>
>>  I always remember sitting in a basement beer bar drinking beer with
>>  Polish friends when it struck me that one of the Polish words for
>>  basement (piwnica) must have been connected to beer (piwo) - beer
>>  storing place? It is, of course, but none of the native speakers with
>>  me (all linguists!) had ever noticed the connection, and the phonetic
>>  modification in the case was minimal.
>>
>>  ==================
>>
>>  Sometimes it takes a bit of detachment from a
>>case to notice stuff like this.  I
>>  remember once being at a party with other
>>linguists in Philadelphia where the
>>  local lager Juengling was being served.  The
>>question came up as to where the
>>  name had come from;  I was surprised that anyone should even be asking the
>>  question, since it seemed very likely to me (especially given the partially
>>  German settlement history of the area) that it was simply the German word
>>  *J¸ngling* 'young man'.  A German friend among
>>us didn't spot it, though;  her
>>  first thought was that it looked like something Chinese.
>>
>>  I agree with the nomination for Quote of the
>>Year.  And it makes me think:  how
>>  do we pronounce these acronyms?  Is there an
>>accepted way?  (Never been to the
>>  ADS Annual Meeting.)  If Word Of The Year is
>>/wowti:/, can Quote Of The Year be
>>  /kwowti:/?
>>
>>  Damien Hall
>>  University of Pennsylvania
>>
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>
>
>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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