[gothic-l] Re: *ibdalja-

[Grsartor at AOL.COM]

About the derivation of Gothic ibdalja (translating Greek katabasis =
descent).

Lehmann, in his Gothic Etymological Dictionary, compares the word with Old
English "ofdaele", a neuter noun meaning descent, and the adjective "ofdael",
tending downwards. He suggests that the "ib" prefix may be related to the
prefix of "iftuma", used in the phrase "iftumin daga" (on the following day),
or less likely, to Primitive Indo-European ebhi, from which Gothic "bi" was
formed. The trail now gets messy. Under "iftuma" he says that the "if" is
from PIE epi, meaning near to, and -tmo, as in "aftuma". I hope this all
conveys more to others than it does to me. "Bi", which has obvious cognates
in English and German, is explained in its own place in the dictionary as a
conflation of two adpositions from PIE: ambhi and ebhi. There are learned
references to other words, including Latin ob & ambire, Greek amphi, and Old
Icelandic umb.

Gerry T.

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