LL-L "Etymology" 2009.03.02 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 02 March 2009 - Volume 04

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From: Mike Morgan <mwmosaka at gmail.com>

Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2009.03.02 (01) [E]



R/R replied:

 the Balto-Finnic languages are interesting sources of early Germanic loans,
such as Finnish *kuningas* (< *kuningaz, *king)


 And, of course, those very same Олег  and Глеб were called /k"njaz/' кънязь
< *kuningaz* in (Old) Russian. The devleopement is almost perfectly regular:

/ja/ < front mid-low nasal < high front nasa < in

final z' < /g/ plus a short high FRONT vowel (with loss of final consonant)

* but note: NOT the /-az/ as in the Germanic form R/R gives. Not sure if
this represents a dialect variation in German, a "lost in translation" loand
(maybe via soem Balto-Finnic), or the Scandinavian -az > -r with "front"
timbre?


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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

As far as I am aware, Mike, the masculine ending *-Vz* competed with
*-(V)r*in other early Germanic varieties -- the old
*-z* ~ *-r* variation as in Dutch *verliezen* vs German *verlieren* 'to
lose', and Low Saxon *fresen* ~ *freren*, cf. English "free*z*e" vs German *
frieren*.

The ending, which in Gothic was devoiced to *-(V)s* and in other Nordic
varieties became *-(V)r*, is regularly reconstructed as **(V)z* in
Proto-Germanic, as in **kuniz* 'genealogical line', 'chieftain'. I
understand that all this is related to Latin *-us*, Greek *-os* and Baltic *
-as* ~ *-is* ~ *-s*.



Note also Old Prussian *kunnegs* vs Old Norse *konungr ~ kongr ~
kungr*'king' < from *
*kun*, cf. Greek *γένοσ* (*génos*), Lithuanian *gentis*, Latvian *ģints*,
'genealogical line', 'clan', 'tribe'.


MM:

And, of course, those very same Олег  and Глеб were called /k"njaz/' кънязь
< *kuningaz* in (Old) Russian.



And Latvian *kungs*, Lower Sorbian *kněz*, Upper Sorbian *knjez*, all
'mister', 'sir'. (I always thought that the latter came from a Germanic word
corresponding to "knight" and *Knecht*.)

Another Old Germanic loan in Finnic: Finnish *leipä*, Estonian *leib*, Veps
*leib, liib*, Sami *láibi *'bread'; cf. Germanic **hlaiba(z)*, Gothic *
hlaifs*, Old Norse *hleifr*, Old German *leib* (> *Laib*), Old English *hlāf
* (> "loaf"), Old Frisian *hlêf*. The Germanic cognates mentioned here all
used to mean 'bread' as well as 'loaf'.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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