Afrykańskie pochodzenie łacińskiej nazwy żyrafy

• Authors: Morta Krzysztof , Witczak Krzysztof Tomasz

Title variants

EN

The African origin of the Latin name of giraffe

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The Latin name for ‘giraffe’, nabus, belongs to words of unknown origin and unclear etymology. As giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis L.) represents an African ungulate mammal, living in savannas, grasslands and open woodlands south of Sahara, researchers suggested that the Latin term nabus must have been borrowed from an African source. However, there is no similar name for ‘giraffe’ in modern languages of North, West, Central or East Africa. Phonetically similar terms are attested only in the area of South Africa, namely in three different subgroups of the Central Khoisan family, e.g. Nama !nai-b; !nae-b ‘giraffe’, Korana (!Ora) !nai-b ‘id.’ (< Proto-Khoekhoe *ɳ!ai-b ‘giraffe’); Kxoe (Hukwe) ŋgábė ‘giraffe’, //Ani ɳ!ábè, Buga ŋgábè, G|anda ŋgábè, Naro ɳ!nábé; n!ábé, G|wi ɳ!ábè; ng!abe, G//ana ŋábì; ngabe, #Haba ɳ!ĩ̂bé ‘id.’ (< Proto-West-Tsu-Khwe *ɳ!ábè ‘giraffe’); |Xaise ŋgábè ‘giraffe’, Deti ŋábè, Cara ŋgábè, Ts’ixa ŋgábè, Danisi ŋgábé, Kua ŋgábè, Tsua gábè, Hietshware gabee, Sehura gnabe, Mohissa $aing (< Proto-East-Tsu-Khwe *ŋábè ‘giraffe’). The present authors believe that the ultimate source of borrowing seems to be the Central Khoisan languages spoken in South Africa. As no direct contact between the Romans and the Khoisan people was possible, it is probable that the loanword in question was transferred into Latin by medium of a North African language and/or Ancient Greek. Geographical works of Juba II (ca. 53 BC – 23 AD), the king of Numidia and Mauretania, written in Greek, could hardly be a possible literary source, though Pliny the Elder refers to him as an authority more than 60 times. The dating of the mosaic and epigraphical data from Praeneste (ca. 108 BC) documents an earlier existence of the word nabus (Ancient Greek ναβοῦς) in the Greek-Latin language world. The borrowing must have been adopted in Ancient Greek (and perhaps in Latin) not later than the half of the II century BC, probably by the mediation of the Ptolemaic court or some Greeks living in the Ptolemaic Egypt.

Keywords

PL

języki khoisan; łacińskie nazwy zwierząt; zapożyczenia

EN

Khoisan languages; Latin names for animals; loanwords.

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie
• Journal: Prace Językoznawcze
• Year: 2017
• Issue: XIX/2
• Pages: 127-140

Contributors

author

Morta Krzysztof

• Uniwersytet Wrocławski Wydział Filologiczny Instytut Studiów Klasycznych, Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych Zakład Filologii Łacińskiej

author

Witczak Krzysztof Tomasz

• Uniwersytet Łódzki, Wydział Filologiczny Katedra Filologii Klasycznej Zakład Latynistyki i Językoznawstwa