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1

Proto-Indo-European Ergativity… Still to be Discussed

100%

Bavant M.

Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

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2008

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vol. 44

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issue 4

433-447

EN

Since Uhlenbeck's seminal article ("Agens und Patiens im Kasussystem der indogermanischen Sprachen", 1901) many scholars have accepted the hypothesis of an ergative case in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) given the light it could shed on obscure facts discovered by the comparatist school inside the IE family. The Soviet linguistic school has been particularly active on ergativity in relation with their interests for living languages of the Caucasus and for ancient languages of the Middle East. More recent works on ergativity have shifted the focus to Australian languages. When the theory of language universals took ergativity into consideration, scholars began to seek an explanation of the so-called "split ergativity" in relation with Silverstein's animacy hierarchy. A sequel of this was that the kind of split ergativity demonstrated by PIE seemed contrary to the accepted universals and, consequently, discarded. This paper challenges the way language universals have been used to refute the PIE ergativity hypothesis. Indeed, the influence of the animacy hierarchy is known to be effective in many languages, but more as a tendency than as an absolute universal. Also, PIE is not a fully-fledged language, but rather a field of experimentation. I also present the viewpoint that PIE could have had no split at all, but solely a semantic impossibility to use inanimate noun phrases in an agent role, which seemed backed up by similar "embarrassments" in modern languages and by the so-called "Hittite ergative".

2

A Note on the Balto-Slavic and Indo-European Background of the Proto-Slavic Adjective *svętъ ‘Holy’

88%

Majer M.

Studia Ceranea

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2017

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vol. 7

139-149

EN

The standard etymological explanation of the Proto-Slavic adjective *svętъ ‘holy, saint’ – a word of extreme literary, cultural and religious importance in the Slavic world – concentrates on the formal match with Lithuanian šventas ‘id.’ and Avestan spəṇta‑ ‘life-giving, holy’ (PIE *ḱwen‑to‑, from the root *ḱwen‑). This article highlights the verbal formation seen in Latvian svinêtsvin svinẽjo ‘celebrate, venerate’, generally recognized as another reflex of the root *ḱwen‑ in Balto-Slavic, but without due attention to the formal implications. It is argued that both in Av. and in BSl. the adjective spəṇta‑/*svętъ behaves as an item participating in the so-called ‘Caland System’ (a set of arbitrary morphological alternations reconstructible for Proto-Indo-European).

3

Dwie germańskie nazwy śledzia

63%

Witczak K. T.

Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Germanica

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2020

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issue 15

9-18

EN

The paper discusses the origin of two Germanic terms for ‘Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus L.’. The Proto-Germanic noun *siled- m. ‘herring’, attested in most North Germanic languages (e.g. ON. sild, Far. síld, OSv. sild, Sv. sill, Norw. sil), cannot be treated as inherited. It seems to represent a Saami (or Laponian) borrowing, cf. Saa. (Northern) sâlled, (Lule) sallēt ‘herring’ < Proto-Saami *silä-tɜ ‘herring’ (orig. ‘fat fish’) < Ur. *śilä ‘fat, grease, esp. fish grease’). The competing Germanic appellative *hēringaz (< *hairingaz) m. ‘Clupea harengus L.’ is well-attested in the West Germanic languages (cf. E. herring, Du. haring, G. Hering), as well as in Romance (cf. It. arenga, Fr. harenge, Prov. arenc, Sp. arenque). It cannot be excluded that the Old Frisian word hēreng represents the original source of the European borrowing. The word in question is a Proto-Germanic innovation derived from the adjective *hairaz ‘gray’ by means of the common suffix *-ingaz, cf. the two old appellatives *bukkingaz m. ‘hot-smoked herring’ (< PG. *bukkaz m. ‘he-goat’) and *hwītingaz m. ‘whiting, the marine fish Merlangius merlangus L.’ (< PG. *hwītaz adj. ‘white’).

4

Зауваження до етимології лексеми grzech – гріх – грех на матеріалі польської, української та російської мов

45%

Piaseczny P.

Roczniki Humanistyczne

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2014

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vol. 62

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issue 6: Językoznawstwo

019-031

PL

Artykuł jest poświęcony etymologii leksemu grzech (ps. *grěxъ, ukr. гріх, ros. грех). Przeprowadzona analiza, oparta na szerokim materiale słownikowym (słowników etymologicznych, gwarowych, poprawnościowych) trzech języków słowiańskich (polskiego, ukraińskiego i rosyjskiego), wykazała, iż najpopularniejsze dotychczasowe propozycje wiążące pochodzenie tego leksemu z ps. *grěti należy w zupełności odrzucić, a także pozwoliła powiązać etymologię owego leksemu ze zrekonstruowanym bałtosłowiańskim leksemem *groi̭s-os, którego pierwotne znaczenie można rekonstruować jako „krzywizna, odchylenie od czegoś”, co w późniejszym okresie dało znaczenie przenośne „pomyłka”. Pogłębiona analiza etymologii leksemu grzech pozwoliła powiązać wskazany powyżej korzeń z praindoeuropejskim rdzeniem *gers-/*ǵers- o znaczeniu m.in. „obracać; giąć, wyginać, zginać”. Przyjąwszy powyższą etymologię leksemu grzech, należy włączyć go do zasobu prasłowiańskich słów, odziedziczonych przez chrześcijańską leksykę konfesyjną w krajach słowiańskich. A zatem zaproponowany przez E. Klicha, S. Rosponda i S. Dubisza zasób słów należy powiększyć do pięciu i odtąd winien on być przedstawiany w sposób następujący: bóg, święty, niebo, piekło, grzech.

EN

The article is devoted to the etymology of the lexeme grzech (ps.*grěxъ ukr. гріх, rus. грех). The analysis based on an extensive dictionary material (etymological, dialect, and monolingual dictionaries of three Slavic languages: Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian) has shown that this lexeme’s hypothetical connection with *grěti should be entirely rejected. The research has also revealed a connection of this lexeme’s etymology with the reconstructed Balto-Slavic lexeme *groi̭s-os. The original meaning of that latter lexeme can be reconstructed as “curve, bending.” In time, the meaning altered to “mistake”. An in-depth analysis of the etymology of the lexeme grzech allowed the author to connect the above-mentioned root with the Proto-Indo-European core gers-/*ǵers-, which means “to turn, to twist, to bend”. In accord with this etymology, the lexeme grzech should be included in the group of Proto-Slavic words that were inherited by the Christian religious lexis in the Slavic countries. Thus, the group of words proposed by E. Klich, S. Rospond and S. Dubisz should now contain five words: bóg, święty, niebo, piekło, grzech.

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1 Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Germanica

1 Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics

1 Roczniki Humanistyczne

1 Studia Ceranea

1 Bavant M.

1 Majer M.

1 Piaseczny P.

1 Witczak K. T.

1 2020

1 2017

1 2014

1 2008

Proto-Indo-European Ergativity… Still to be Discussed

A Note on the Balto-Slavic and Indo-European Background of the Proto-Slavic Adjective *svętъ ‘Holy’

Dwie germańskie nazwy śledzia

Зауваження до етимології лексеми grzech – гріх – грех на матеріалі польської, української та російської мов