Lexicon Proto-Borealicum Et Alia Lexica Etymologica Minora

Sorin Paliga
Lexicon Proto-Borealicum
et alia lexica etymologica minora
Coperta / Cover: Sorin Paliga
Ilustra!ia copertei / Cover Picture: A fragment of Lexicon Protoborealicum
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Sorin Paliga
Bucure!ti
2007
Contents / Cuprins
Cuvânt înainte 7
Foreword 9
I. A Proto-Boreal Lexicon. Introduction to the Archaic Heritage of the

European Languages • With special reference to the archaic (Thracian)
heritage of Romanian 11–161
Foreword 13
Introduction 15
The Proto-Boreal Linguistic Group 18
Proto-Boreal Reconstruction 19
The Proto-Boreal Consonant System 24
Positional Syllabic Tamber 26
The three degreees of velar consonants in PB 27
Perspectives 29
Lexicon Etymologicum Proto-Borealicum 31
ADDENDA 155–161
The Uralic Group 155
The Altaic Group 157
Distribution of the pre-historic cultural groups 160
II. The Velar Spirant (commonly labelled “Laryngeal”)
in Thracian and Proto!Romanian 163–195
Introduction 165
Those ‘peculiar’ sounds of Romanian 167
Some Case Studies 171
Etymological Lexicon of the Thracian Elements in Romanian
witnessing an original velar spirant (or ‘laryngeal’) 174
III. 100 Slavic Basic Roots 197–222

Introduction 199
Once again on Sl. s!to 199
The Slavic ‘Homeland’ and Slavic Ethnogenesis 201
Compiling a basic set of Proto-slavic roots 203
100 Slavic Roots 204
Addendum. The Slavic Numerals 220
IV. Glosar de termeni mitologici lituanieni 223–233
Bibliographia 235
Cuvânt înainte / Foreword
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Cuvânt înainte
Volumul de fa!" este al patrulea din seria ini!iat" în 2006 de Editura

Funda!iei Evenimentul, cu sprijinul generos al Rosal Grup, f"r" de care nu
ar fi putut vedea lumina tiparului în condi!ii grafice deosebite. Astfel, am
reu#it s" adun"m, în patru volume succesive, ceea ce a# considera opera
lingvistic" major": 1. Lexiconul etimologic al elementelor autohtone
(traco!dace) ale limbii române, în contextul în care mo#tenirea arhaic" înc"
nu #i!a g"sit locul cuvenit în lucr"rile dedicate istoriei limbii române;
2. $ influen!ele romane #i preromane (trace, ilire) asupra limbilor slave de
sud; 3. aproape toate studiile majore de lingvistic" #i de antropologie,
publicate – de!a lungul anilor – în diverse reviste de specialitate, din !ar" #i
de peste hotare.
Acest al patrulea volum cuprinde, în primul rând, lexiconul
proto!boreal, elaborat pe baza materialului oferit de lingvistul rus Nikolaj
Dmitrievi% Andreev, cu multe adnot"ri #i complet"ri, mai ales referitoare la
mo#tenirea traco!dac" a limbii române. Acest lexicon completeaz", în fapt,
primul volum al acestei serii. Ipoteza lui Andreev nu este nici nou", nici
original": cândva, în preistorie, va fi fost un conglomerat etno!lingvistic,
numit conven!ional proto!boreal, din care, ulterior, s!au dezvoltat limbile
indo!europene, limbile uralice #i limbile altaice, probabil #i limba coreean".
Bojan &op (Slovenia) #i Illi%-Svity% (Rusia, Uniunea Sovietic" pe atunci)
luaser" în considera!ie o asemenea ipotez", ca s" nu mai amintesc de ipoteza
lui Delitzch, avansat" pe la final de secol XIX, care sugera o înrudire
primordial" dintre limbile indo!europene #i limbile semite (ipotez"
neconfirmat", deocamdat" cel pu!in). Nimeni îns" nu a reu#it, în opinia
noastr", s" adune un material a#a de vast #i a#a de conving"tor cum a f"cut
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Lexica Etymologica Minora
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N. D. Andreev. Consecin!ele pentru studierea preistoriei europene sunt
extraordinare: înrudirea dintre limbile indo!europene face parte dintr!o
„înrudire etno!lingvistic"” mult mai ampl" a majorit"!ii limbilor vorbite în
spa!iul euro!asiatic. Am prezentat lucrarea, într!o form" abreviat", la
Congresul Interna!ional al Slavi#tilor, Ljubljana, august 2003; aceast" form"
final" a dedic"m viitorului congres interna!ional al slavi#tilor, ce urmeaz" a
fi organizat de Universitatea din Skopje, Macedonia, în septembrie 2008.
Al doilea lexicon al volumului de fa!" cuprinde o list" neexhaustiv", dar
ampl", a elementelor autohtone ale limbii române care fac dovada existen!ei
unei spirante velare (unii lingvi#ti prefer" s" o numeasc" laringal") în
limba traco-dac". Odat" acceptat" existen!a acestui fonem specific,
consecin!ele pentru studierea mo#tenirii autohtone se pot modifica radical.
Al treilea lexicon cuprinde ceea ce noi consider"m a fi cele o sut! de
r!d!cini de baz! ale limbii proto!slave. Este, desigur, o selec!ie
subiectiv". Am dorit s" subliniem aici caracterul eterogen a ceea ce se
nume#te adesea „limba proto!slav"” sau, mai degrab" incorect, „slava
comun"”. De fapt, nucleul slav arhaic este bazat, cum încearc" s" arate #i
acest lexicon, pe elementele de tip sud!baltic, c"rora li s!au ad"ugat
elemente vest iranice #i nord trace (a#a numitele idiomuri proto!slave A, B
#i C, respectiv, conform categoriz"rii încercate recent de Aleksandar Loma,
tot la amintitul congres interna!ional al slavi#tilor de la Ljubljana) precum
#i, ulterior, elemente germanice #i vechi române#ti (protoromâne#ti).
În fine, lexiconul minimal al divinit!"ilor lituaniene reia lista publicat",
acum ceva ani, ca addendum la traducerea lucr"rii lui Algirdas Julien
Greimas, Despre zei !i despre oameni. Fiind primul #i, deocamdat", singurul
lexicon mitologic lituanian ap"rut în România, apreciem c" poate fi util unei
largi categorii de cititori, fie #i „rupt” de corpul traducerii amintite.
Sorin Paliga, iunie 2007
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Cuvânt înainte / Foreword
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Foreword
This volume is the fourth in the series initiated in 2006 by Evenimentul

Foundation Publishers, and with the generous support of Rosal Group,
without which these books could not be published in such beautiful
conditions. The four volumes gather together what I may label the major
linguistic and anthropological works: 1. The Etymological Lexicon of the
Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian, issued at a moment when the
archaic heritage of Romanian has not yet found its proper place in the
history of the Romanian language; 2. Romance and Pre!Romance
(Thracian, Illyrian) influences on South Slavic; 3. Almost all the major
studies in linguistics and anthropology, issued over years in various
scientific journals, in Romania and abroad.
This fourth volume includes, first of all, the Proto!Boreal lexicon,
based on the works and analysis of the Russian linguist Nikolaj Dmitrievi%
Andreev, with many adnotations and additions, especially referring to the
Thracian heritage of Romanian. Thus, this volume complements the first of
the series. Andreev’s hypothesis is not perhaps new or original: some time
in prehistory there must have been an ethno!linguistic group, conventionally
labelled Proto!Boreal, out of which the Indo!European, Uralic and Altaic
languages later emerged, probably Korean as well. Bojan &op (Slovenia)
and Illi%!Svity% (Russia, or Soviet Union at that time) considered such a
hypothesis, to say nothing of Delitzch’s hypothesis, advanced in the 2nd half
of the 19th century, which assumed a primordial relationship between the
Indo!European and Semitic languages (unconfirmed, at least so far). In our
opinion nobody else has succeeded in gathering together such a rich and
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convincing material as Andreev did; and the consequences for the study of
European prehistory are outstanding: the Indo!European relationship is just
a chapter in a vast and older relationhip of most Euro!Asianic languages.
My work was initially presented in an abridged form at the International
Congress of Slavicists, Ljubljana, August 2003; this final, enlarged and
corrected version, is dedicated to the next international congress of
slavicists to be held at, and organised by, the University of Skopje,
Macedonia, in September 2008.
The second lexicon of the current volume includes an ample, be it non
exhaustive, list of the indigenous (Thracian) elements in Romanian, which
witness the existence of a velar spirant in Thracian (some linguists prefer
to label it a laryngeal). Once accepted, this hypothesis may have crucial
consequences for the study of the Thracian heritage in Romanian.
The third lexicon includes what we assume the one hundred essential
Slavic roots. Of course, the selection is subjective, nevertheless we wished
to stress the ‘objective’ heterogenous character of Proto!Slavic, or—rather
incorrect—‘Common Slavic’. In fact, and the lexicon tries to prove this, the
Slavic nucleus is based on South Baltic elements, to which West Iranic and
North Thracian elements were later added (the so!called Proto!Slavic
idioms A, B and C, respectively, as Aleksandar Loma showed at the same
congress in Ljubljana); some time later, Germanic and Proto!Romanian
elements were also borrowed into Proto!Slavic.
Finally, the minimal lexicon of the Lithuanian god!names resumes the
list published as an addendum to Algirdas Julien Greimas, Despre zei !i
despre oameni (About gods and humans). As it is the first and, to date, the
only such lexicon, it may be also useful even if ‘torn off’ the named book.
Sorin Paliga, June 2007
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10
A Proto-Boreal Lexicon
Introduction to the Archaic Heritage
of the European Languages
With special reference

to the archaic (Thracian) heritage of Romanian
Proto!Boreal Lexicon
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Foreword
The present work covers a long-lasting preoccupation for gathering data for
an enlarged etymological dictionary of the Indo-European and
Pre!Indo!European languages, particularly the languages of southeast Europe;
and, among these, Romanian too or, better, Romanian in the first place.
Over years several studies were published or are forthcoming; I would
just mention the reference cards for an etymological dictionary of the
Pre!Romance (Thracian) elements of Romanian to be prepared for the
International Congress of Thracology, to be held in Chi!in"u, 2004.
This book refers to the so-called Proto-Boreal reconstruction, and is due
to the Russian linguist Nikolaj Dmitrievi# Andreev. A preliminary version
was presented at the 13th International Congress of Slavists (Ljubljana,
August 15–23, 2003) under the title N. D. Andreev’s Proto-Boreal Theory and Its
Implications in Understanding the Central-East and Southeast European
Ethnogenesis: Slavic, Baltic and Thracian. Also an electronic version, in PDF
format, was posted on my website and was, and still is, available free.
This enlarged and revised version tries to solve, or to at least draw attention
on, some disputed or unclear aspects of the archaic heritage of the European
languages, particularly Romanian and other southeast European languages. It is
assumed that the reader is already familiar to the general aspects of the Thracian
heritage of Romanian and other neighbouring languages (Bulgarian, Serbian,
Albanian among others) and with other elements connected to the archaic Illyrian
and Celtic heritage of other linguistic areas.
The Proto-Boreal Lexicon reflects, first of all, the data presented by Andreev,
then followed (marked by ‘•’) by my comments on some archaic elements of
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Romanian in a comparative perspective. They are largely accepted as substratum
elements or, at least, have been subject to various debates regarding their origin.
Our attempt follows the previous Pre-Indo-European Lexicon and, by
and large, our constant preoccupation for clarifying various aspects of
southeast European etymology (for which see the references).
Sorin Paliga
Bucharest, September 17, 2003
Minor revision: January 24, 2004; 2nd revision: March!May 2007
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Introduction
N. D. Andreev’s theory, labelled Proto-Boreal, surprised – I may say – the

scientific world by its large spectrum of linguistic problems: Proto-Indo-
European, Proto-Uralic and Proto-Altaic (later he also added Korean) were
considered as newer, derived branches from an older linguistic group labelled
Proto-Boreal. It is also a difficult book as various languages are put together,
regularly considered as belonging to different families according to traditional
classifications. It is true that the idea of an archaic relationship between Uralic
and Indo-European is not new, and was advocated – with notable results – by
some linguists, mainly by Karel O$tir (1921) and Bojan %op (1974, 1975).
Their pioneering work would deserve more attention, and Andreev’s theory
would not thus seem isolated. It reflects, in fact, a long and strenuous effort
towards identifying and explaining an archaic relationship among languages
usually categorised independently.
It is true that other linguists previously attempted to reconstruct an older
phase of what we currently label Indo-European, and also to identify
common, archaic roots of Indo-European, Caucasian and Semitic languages
(e.g. !"#$%&'()*+,-./*Trombetti 1925 – yet Trombetti’s analysis should be
analysed with care, as he really put forward precious material, just not
always reliably analysed). On the other hand, many linguists predominantly
tried to analyse, and at least partially succeeded in analysing the Pre-Indo-
European roots identified or identifiable in Ancient or Modern languages. I
would quote the remarkable studies of the Italian linguists, published – to a
large extent – in the Studi Etruschi beginning with 1927. Also Ch. Rostaing’s
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Essai sur la toponymie de la Provence (1950) and Skok’s analysis of the archaic
place-names in the Adriatic islands (Skok 1950). The existence of an
archaic, Pre-Indo-European stratum cannot be doubted any more (see our
studies focused on this topic quoted in the references). This is in full
agreement with archaeological studies, which now unanimously report
remarkable Neolithic and Chalcolithic civilisations spreading, some time
after 7,500 B.C. from Anatolia to Southeast Europe, and hence to Central
and Western Europe. These ethno-linguistic groups, disregarding how we
may reconstruct such outstanding changes and evolutions (animal
domestication, copper and gold processing, larger and larger habitational
sites, specific representations of deities, etc.) must have been responsible for
the corresponding material culture discovered in thousands archaeological
sites; they must be held for surviving in a certain linguistic inventory in
Greek, Latin (Etruscan, a non-Indo-European language), and also Thracian,
Illyrian, probably also Slavic and Baltic. The analysis of such an archaic
heritage cannot be easy, especially in the case of languages without written
documents, in fact the usual case: the written documents in the European
culture are specific to only the Greeks and Romans, later gradually adopted
by the newly emerged linguistic groups in the Early and Mid-Middle Ages.
There is no wonder that Chantraine, in the introduction of his Dictionnaire
étymologique de la langue grecque, plainly assumes that only 40% of the
Greek vocabulary admits an Indo-European origin, while other words were
borrowed from Semitic and other neighbouring languages; and some 50%
must reflect the indigenous, Pre-Indo-European heritage.
On the other hand, Marija Gimbutas is perhaps the archaeologist who
provoked the hottest debate in the wake of her articles mainly related to two
topics:
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1. The ‘Old European’ cultural bloc which, with its Gimbutasian label, is
the same as the Pre-Indo-European stratum in the current or previous
studies; also labelled “Mediterranean” by some linguists, e.g. Skok 1950; it
should be carefully discriminated against Hans Krahe’s Alteuropäisch =
oldest Indo-European identifiable stratum.
2. The ‘Kurgan’ or Indo-European tradition. Gimbutas opposed the two
cultural blocs, and reconstructed a prehistoric tableau, which may be briefly
summarised as thus:
a. ‘Old European’ represented the indigenous Neolithic and Chalcolithic groups,
which gradually created an outstanding civilisation in the Aegean and southeast
Europe: animal domestication, archaeo-metallurgical skills, religious symbolism,
peaceful and matrifocal societies, larger and larger habitational environment, a kind
of proto-urban settlements. The Southeast European groups gradually developed a
specific tradition, similar – but not identical to – Anatolian tradition. It is assumed
that both human expansion and assimilation of civilisational habits played their role
in this complex process, so the Neolithic and Chalcolithic groups reflected both an
indigenous Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic element and a newer, Anatolian and/or
Mediterranean element.
b. The Kurgan or Indo-European tradition may be traced back as far as the
fifth millennium B.C. in the North Pontic steppes. Unlike their western Old
European counterparts, the Indo-Europeans (or ‘Kurgan people’) developed a
specific ideology of the glorious warrior, domesticated the horse, adopted bronze
metallurgy from (seemingly) the Caucasian groups, and began to expand west,
north and east in waves. Gimbutas identified three waves of expansion: 4400–
4200; 3400–3200, and 3000–2800 B.C. The second and third waves were
responsible for the decisive Indo-Europeanisation of a vast Euro-Asian space, but
with specific preservations of the Pre-Indo-European heritage. Gimbutas did not
speak of a unified, homogene ethno-linguistic groups, but rather a convergent
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tradition gradually imposed from a presumably limited group, which later
conquered various other Mesolithic groups of the Volga!Ural region.
Such a reconstruction is, or may be, debatable. But, rarely noticed so far, her
theory matches, at least loosely, if not even in details, N. D. Andreev’s theory of
the Proto-Boreal language. Gimbutas dealed mainly with archaeological data
(though she incidentally refers to comparative linguistics as well), whereas
Andreev refers to only linguistic material. It is interesting that, despite the
common points of their theories, Gimbutas and Andreev never quote each other!
We may assume that they had no knowledge of their mutually complementary
theories, and that archaeology and linguistics may indeed offer an incentive to
interdisciplinary research.
The Proto-Boreal Linguistic Group
Before expanding on Andreev’s theory, we may briefly present it as a

reconstruction of an older linguistic reality (‘Proto-Boreal’, hereafter PB),
corresponding to an older, Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic phase, out of which
Proto-Uralic (hereafter PU), Proto-Altaic (hereafter PA), Korean (discussed in
two studies published after the publication of his main book) and Proto-Indo-
European later developed in the evolution to Mesolithic-Neolithic-Bronze Age.
Andreev reconstructs an archaic inventory of 203 roots, and analyses them in
the three main derived branches. Andreev’s reconstruction remarkably
matches, as said above, the Gimbutasian theory, even in details. The common
points, as I may identify them, are the following:
1. A vast area of (initially) food-gatherers located in the East-Boreal part of
Europe, hence the term Proto-Boreal; it confirms or supports Gimbutas’s theory that
the Kurgan people were NOT a compact ethno-linguistic group, but rather a vast
and large congregation of initially different groups, which gradually gathered
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together under a common ideology represented by the ‘warrior knight’, kurgan
burials, veneration of the shining sky (Jupiter-Zeus) etc.
2. A gradual expansion; that is what Gimbutas says too, and analysing how the
Kurgan (PIE) groups later assimilated Caucasian technologies, mainly arsenic-
copper alloy, and perhaps horse domestication, which may be of Trans-Uralian
origin.
3. A parallel satem-centum dichotomy, identifiable in not only Indo-European
languages, but also in Uralic and Altaic. As an example, Finnish and Estonian
(closely related languages of the Fennic-Uralic group, see the Appendix) are of
centum type, whereas Hungarian (Ugrian branch of the Uralic group) is of satem
type. Altaic languages regularly reflect a process similar to the satem groups.
There are of course other features of the PB reconstruction. I shall try to
present them below.
Proto-Boreal Reconstruction
Andreev identifies the following proto-phonemes:

J – sonant
H – velar spirant (usually labelled ‘laryngeal’ in the Indo-European
linguistics)
Q – voiced explosive
C – consonant
In a review of Andreev’s book, Lucia Wald (Revue Roumaine de
Linguistique, 33, 2/1988: 119–122) expands on Andreev’s terminology by
adding or suggesting the following terms:
PB – Proto-Boreal
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EA – Early Altaic
EIE – Early Indo-European
EU – Early Uralic
MIE – Middle Indo-European (between EIE and PIE: PB > EIE > MIE > PIE)
PIE – Proto-Indo-European
U-A – Uralic-Altaic
Wald also summarises the basic points of Andreev’s theory:
• Very likely PB was a language characterised by an inventory of root-
words undivided in parts of speech, the only device of forming new lexemes
being the paratactic composition – a status in existence in EIE as well.
• A peculiar evolution of Boreal velar spirants whose representatives in
EIE have often been described as laryngeals or variations of ! (schwa
indogermanicum); they were preserved – under some conditions – only in
Hittite, Tungus-Manchurian and Fenno-Ugrian languages.
Note. We assume that Thracian also had a velar spirant (laryngeal) still
preserved in Proto-Romanian, until a historical moment difficult to
determine, probably until at least the 6th century A.D. Its traces in (Modern)
Romanian are zero, f/v and h, maybe also ! (ts); in Albanian, its counterparts
seem to be as in Romanian, sometimes also th and dh (more in our paper Ten
Theses on Thracian Etymology in Studia Thracologica, Bucharest, XXII, 1–2,
2001; included in the 3rd volume of this series).
Andreev convincingly explains the influence of the velar spirants on the
IE vowels and sonants. Thus:
(a) the simple velar spirant X > IE ", #, !, the long sonants and aspirant
occlusion;
(b) labio-velar spirant Xw > IE $, %;
(c) Xy.
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• The three velar series, e.g. K-R-, Kw-R-, Ky-R-.
• The well-known centum-satem distinction is also found in Uralic-
Altaic, e.g. the difference between Finnish (a centum-type language) v.
Hungarian (a satem-type language).
• In EIE the sonants Y and W were only consonants, their vocalic nature
being developed much later in inter-consonant position.
• The PB vowel system was very poor, reduced to a syllabeme with an
indefinite tamber variously articulated in accordance with the tamber of the
contiguous consonants, a stage preserved also in EIE. In the course of
history the vocalic inventory became richer owing to the influence of the
velar spirants in the adjacent syllabeme and to the vocalisation of the
sonants. In contrast to EIE, in the other two Boreal branches the reduction
and vocalisation of the velar spirants occurred much later; some idioms
preserve them till now. Instead of the Ablaut, the vowel harmony was
established. All Ural-Altaic dialects have preserved clear marks of a
syllabeme with positionally conditional tambers.
• The level of linguistic structure: absence of parts of speech, a scanty
inventory of words, which implies an extensive periphery around the
semantic nucleus, prevalently concrete nature of protosemes, the systematic
character of the vocabulary, the lack of synonymy and therefore a reduced
redundancy. On the whole the Boreal protosemes prove to be more archaic
and more concrete than the corresponding units in EIE, but closer to those
found in U-A languages.
• The semantic fields of EIE vocabulary (chapter XI):
- a. denominations of the means of livelihood with the changes from PB
(a stage characterised by hunting, fishing and gathering) to EIE (cattle
breeding and agriculture).
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- b. names referring to communication and storing information;
- c. labour and tools;
- d. human relations – several words for female persons, according to
their age and social status (girl, female-teenager, mother, daughter, wife),
but only one for ‘man’: *X-N- ‘the one who goes ahead’;
- e. affiliation to a certain tribe and to peaceful or warlike tribal relations;
- f. clime and earth structure – many terms related to woods, hills,
marshes, rivers and a severe climate with only two seasons: winter and
spring (glacial age); no trace of words for ‘summer’ and ‘autumn’;
• The transition from PB to EIE – the last period of the Halocene or
Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic; geographically the PB area must have been a
vast region delimited by the Rhine in the west and the Altai mountains in
the east. In the course of time, the three basic linguistic groups derived from
PB got gradual contours in the following regions:
Altai-Urals: Altaic
Urals-Dnieper: Uralic
Dnieper-Rhine: EIE
Note. Gimbutas locates the Kurgan, or Proto-Indo-European, homeland

in more southern regions, starting from the assumption that arsenic-copper
technology was borrowed from the Caucasian groups. It should be yet
remembered that Gimbutas goes as back as the fifth millennium B.C.,
whereas Andreev reconstruct a linguistic reality prior to this period.
• The right element (root) of a compound changed into a modifier in IE,

and then a new classification of themes was created (Benveniste’s theory).
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The last stage was represented by an opposition r ~ n. It is ingenuously

explained as a result of the transformation of the EIE main lexical
opposition ‘things v. inanimate’: *RXy > r(XY) > -r(!) and ‘made or brought
for us’: *NXw > *N(Xw) > *n(!). The most remote stage of the IE Ablaut might
have been represented by the opposition, with semantic value, between
stressed and unstressed syllabemes, reduced to zero, in correlation with the
consonantal opposition w/y – vocalic opposition, e.g.
*PL-Xw-w- ‘marsh’ ~ *PL-Xy-w- ‘to float’ –> *plou- ~ *pleu-
The velar spirants led to the *o and *e degrees, i.e. IE typological
evolution from an amorphous to an inflectional evolution. Setting up
inflectional morphemes prior to the separation into parts of speech may
explain e.g. *-r- as a mark of the objective case of nouns and passive voice
of verbs or *-e- as vocative and imperative.
Gradually the following structure was achieved:
a. vocalic variation as a result of a PB syllabeme with contextul

variations;
b. biconsonant roots;
c. identification of IE schwa with velar spirants;
d. existence of three velar series in PIE;
e. a morphological amorphous structure of PB and EIE which annulled
grammatical parallelism between PIE and U-A;
f. a socio-linguistic stage of hunters, fishers and gatherers.
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Summing up, the reader may note the originality and accuracy of
Andreev’s argumentation, even if it may further lead to additional questions
and to perplexities. If it were for this reason only, Andreev’s theory deserves
much more than scattered praises in linguistic journals. It brilliantly concludes
a long-term investigation, whose prioneers were – among others – Bojan %op
and Karel O$tir (Slovenia); and also largely expands the possibility of new
research based on a rich and exciting material.
The Proto-Boreal Consonant System
!"0%1#'
PB T D Dh S N L
PIE t d dh s n l
PU t t t s n l
PA t d d s n l
213$1#'
PB P B Bh M
PIE p b bh m
PU p p p m
PA p b b m
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4$56#"*7"#18'
PB K G Gh X- -X- R -R-
centum k g gh xa-, &a- -xa-, -'-, -&a- r -r-
satem k g gh xa-, &a- -xa-, -'-, -&a- r -r-
Finn-Baltic k k k ha- -ha-, -'-, -"- r -r-
Obi-Ugrian k k kh – -!-, -a- r -r-
Tung.-Man. k g g xa-, ha- -!-, -'-, -"- &r- -r-
91#1%1#*7"#18'
PB Ky Gy Ghy Xy- -Xy- Y

centum k g gh xe-, &e- -xe-, -(-, -&e- y
satem # " h, " xe-, &e- -xe-, -(-, -&e- y
Finn-Baltic ki ki ki hi- hi-, -(-, -)- y
Obi-Ugrian # # khi – &i, -e- y
Tung.-Man # " " xi-, hi- -!i-, -(-, -)- y
213$:;"#18'
PB Kw Gw Ghw Xw -Xw- W
centum kw gw ghw x°-, &°- -x°-, -*-, &° w
satem k g gh x°-, &°- -x°-, -*-, &° w
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Finn-Baltic ku w w hu- -hu-, -*-, -+- w
Obi-Ugrian ku w w – -!u-, -o- w
Tung.-Man ku (x)w, (x)w, xu-, hu- -!u-, -*-, -+- w
(h)w (h)w
Note. This scheme does not reflect some Indo-European situations, e.g.
Gr. b < Gw and ph < Ghw, Skr. ç < Ky, etc. The situation is also complicated
in languages with poor or limited written sources like Thracian and Illyrian;
in such cases, the analysis should consider complex analyses, which should
permanently consider the possible similarities with known data. As a simple
example, there are striking similarities between Thracian (including the
Thracian elements of Romanian) and Baltic, mainly Lithuanian. On the
other hand, there are some similar treatments in Thracian and Greek or
Germanic, therefore a similarity with the centum area. According to my
interpretation, the treatment of Gw and Ghw in Thracian seems similar to
Greek rather than its satem-related languages.
Positional Syllabic Tamber
The syllabic tamber in PB depended on the two neighbouring

consonants. The passage to PIE led to essential changes of linguistic
typology, among these vocalisation of sonants, which – in its turn – led to
zero degree too. There was initially only *" in PIE.
Examples:
PB *Gw-R ‘a hill’: fin. VuoR-i (< *GwoR-xwy-) ‘id.’ and VaaR-a (< *GweR-
x-): Fin. KuoR-i ‘bark, crust’ (- *GweR-xwy-); KaaR-na ‘crust’ (-*GweR-xn-);
Fin. LoN-kka ‘coaps"’( ...-kxw-); LaN-ne ‘id.’ (...-nx-).
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The three degreees of velar consonants in PB
(1) The three tambers of the so-called &va indogermanicum: velar spirants PIE
*X, *Xw, *Xy, which in postsyllabic vocalisation led to contracted sounds *#, *%, *'.
(2) The role of the second focus of articulation for labiovelars and palatals.
(3) The intra-systemic argument represented by different meanings of roots:
*Kw-R ‘a worm’, *K-R ‘hard’, *Ky-R ‘herd’;
*Gw-L ‘to sting, *G-L ‘birdy, specific to birds’, *Gy-L ‘(good) luck, victory’;
*Ghw-N ‘to strike, to beat’, *Gh-N ‘to gnaw’, *Ghy-N ‘to step’;
*S-Xw ‘to jump’, *S-X ‘sun’, *S-Xy ‘to sow, to seed’.
(4) Difference in treatment of PB simple and aspirated voiced consonants

in Obi-Ugrian (OU) and Man#ur-Tungus (MT) groups:
PB OU MT PB OU MT
G k g Gh kh g
Gy ( ) Ghy khi )
Gw w (x)w, (h)w Ghw w (x)w, (h)w
Velar spirants and long contracted sounds. The case of spirant X.

Examples:
PB *D-Xw ‘to give’ > Hit. DaaH-hi, Skr. Di-tá;-, gr. dí-D*-mi;
PIE * –+ X - (stress preceding X) > *a;
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*T-X ‘to melt, thaw; to vanish’: gr. TA-kerós, dor. T,-k%, OCS TA-jati (see
also # 33 and 100).
PIE * –+ Xw (stress preceding *Xw) > *%; *! : *%.
, bti, gr. bu-B*-nos
Ex. (20): *B-Xw: Lit. BA-m
Ex. (12): *Dh-Xw ‘fir-tree needles’: Gr. Tho-ós, Skr. Dh,-ra-, Evenki Dü--
ün, Khanty Tu-./r
Ex. (92): *P-Xw ‘protecting fire’: Khanty P"--/rla, -egidal P*-)a.
* –+ Xy > ' /:'
Ex. (101): *K-Xy ‘to pick with a hook’: lat. CA-pess%, C0-pi, Negid Ke--jan,
.ant. Kä--ri;
Ex. (98) *Gh-Xy: gr. e-KhA-ndanon, Skr. ja-H,-ra, Ul#. G0-xü; see also # (9).
Velar spirants and long sonants. In Uralic and Altaic, the velar spirant is
preserved as such:
Ex. (132) *Y-X- ‘to hunt’: O. Germ. JA-g%n, Vedic Y,-van, Evenki Ï-mka-;
Ex. (141) *W-X- ‘a sheath; vagina’: Skr. 1-rú-, Lat. V,-g2na, Udegej WA,
Lat. V,-rus;
Ex. (14) *N-X- ‘nose’: Lat. N,-ris, Skr. NA-kra;
Ex. (138) *L-Xw ‘shovel; to dig’: OCS LO-pata, O. Ir. L,-ige, Evenki L*-
mki, Negidal Lo--osïn-, Khanty /0--!l (!:%)
Therefore a long sonant is often in agreement with not only the evolution
of root structure J1–H2– but also with the evolution of the type H1–J2–. See
also # 160:
*X-W: Lith. ÁU-d', OCS AU-sa, Fin. VU-ras, Negidal XaW-#dakta.
Ex. (172): *Xy-Y ‘to go, walk’: Homeric E3-mi, Lith. E3-din', Oro#i 3, Fin.
HiI.htää.
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Perspectives
The Proto-Boreal view as suggested by Andreev concludes a long chapter

of hot discussions regarding the possible relationship between Indo-European
and other linguistic groups. Unlike previous attempts, Andreev’s book is brief,
profound, and – last but not least – coherent. Furthermore it is open to
modular, both horizontal and vertical developments. Andreev himself
(Andreev 1986 b, 1987) added data, mainly from Hungarian and Korean (two
languages initially absent in his book) and made additional comments. It is
outstanding that he aimed at an accurate, computer-like analysis of languages
in their historical development. His arguments may be eventually debatable,
yet it is for the first time that an ample material is analysed in such a way, with
such convincing rectitude and by suggesting possible or potential
developments.
Andreev’s view is also an incentive to further analyses regarding the
evolution of Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic-Chalcolithic languages, and the
human evolution in prehistory. There are various ways in which we may
attempt to exploit the available data and suggest further analyses. One refers
to the very essence of the linguistic and ethnic realities in prehistoric Europe
and Asia. We may thus better understand Slavic, Thracian or Illyrian
ethnogenesis, as an example, and compare this to Hittite, Greek or Latin
ethnogenesis, generally better known from written sources. And we may
further expand the analysis to the Uralic-Altaic area, and understand why
the similarities between (say) Finnish and other Indo-European languages is
sometimes striking.
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Indeed, Andreev’s theory is always open to further investigations and to
additional data. We tried to suggest a possible relationship with some
archaic forms in Romanian. In all these cases, it is understood that we
consider these forms of (certain, probable, possible) Thracian origin. In
other words, they represent a component of the sub-stratum element in
Romanian. This is important to understanding the complex ethnogenesis in
Central-East Europe, e.g. the Thracian, Baltic or Slavic ethnogenesis, a
topic we also approached in some instances. This contribution therefore
continues and expands previous attempts towards the understanding of
Euro-Asian prehistory.
NOTE
See the Appendix for a synthetic list of the Indo-European, Uralic and
Altaic linguistic groups as quoted in the Lexicon Etymologicum.
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Lexicon Etymologicum Proto-Borealicum
Phoneme !"#
(1) *W-T- ‘year’, ‘long-living’

Gr. WéT-os ‘year’
Fi. VuoT-uinen ‘year-’
Vedic VaT-sará- ‘period of a 6-year cycle’
Lat. UeT-us ‘old’
Khanty UT-/kh2 ‘every year’
Skr. par-UT ‘of the passed year’
Äwenki UT-ä4 lepti ‘old, of yore’
• It is debatable whether Rom. v"túi ‘a young, one-year old lamb’, may

be viewed in the perspective of this root as an indigenous, Thracian heritage
(as I. I. Russu believes). This hypothesis seems justified.
(2) *T-W- ‘to keep, to hold; support’

Lith. TV-árdyti ‘restrain, repress’
Lith. TU-r'ti ‘keep’, from archaic *TW–+ r-
Äwenki TU-rut- ‘keep together’
Nanaj TU-ndüwän ‘to keep’
Fin. TU-kea ‘support’ (< *TW-k-+ )
Est. TU-gi ‘support, prop’
Ewän (Lamut) TÜ-rüt- ‘to hold, to restrain, to prop’ (< *TW-r-+ xy-)
Khanty T5-t67 ‘to hold, prop in a boat’ (< *TW-tx-+ )
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Khanty T5-86t ‘to hold, prop a boat’ (< *TW-xt–)
Äwenki TÜ-k- ‘to hold, to keep fast’ (< *TW-r-xy-)
Lith. TaU-pà ‘restrain in expenses, thrift, economy’ (< *T-W-p-) = TaU-sà
‘id.’ (< *T-W-s-)
Äwenki TÜ-rga ‘prop, support’ = TÜ-kta ‘id.’
O. Mong. TU-l8an ‘prop, support’
Nenets T’U-rts’uts’ ‘to have as a prop, as a support’
O. Mong. TU-l- ‘to lean upon’
Nenets T’U-rkutas’ ‘to lean upon’
Äwenki T9-nin- ‘to lean upon’ (< *TW-xn--yn-)
Khanty T5-tast6ta ‘to lean upon, to set against’
Nenets T’U-rxalas’ ‘to lean upon’
O. Turk. TU-truq ‘to support, to prop’
Khanty T"W-6rta ‘to hold a river, to dam, to weir’ (< *T-+ W-xr-)
Korean TU-k ‘dam, weir’ (< *TW-g–+ xy-)
O. Turk. TU-8 ‘dam, weir, obstacle, barrier’
Khanty T5-l ‘barrier; partition’ (< *TW-lx-+ )
Note 1. In Khanty, the Boreal -W-, when vocalized, may become -5-
under the influence of the following -X-, not necessarily in the immediate
neighbourhood.
Note 2. When dealing with long narrow vowels 1, 9, 3 we must bear in
mind that they may be the result of a contraction either from the type -WH-, -
YH- (where the symbol H denotes any velar spirant, currently labeled
‘laryngeal’, i.e. X, Xy, Xw) or from the type -HW-, -HY-.
(3) *T-M- ‘dark(ness)’

Skr. TáM-a ‘darkness’
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Lith. TaM-sà ‘darkness’
Est. TuM-e ‘dark’
Lith. TéM-ti ‘darken’
Fin. TuM-mentaa ‘darken’
Lith. TeM-dyti ‘darken’
Lat. TeM-pt% ‘to touch, to tempt, to explore’
Saami T'M-mes ‘dark’
O. Sl. T"M-"n#$‘dark’
O. Ir. TeM-el ‘dark’
Skr. TaM-asa- ‘dark-coloured’
Latvian TiM-a ‘darkness’
U1#i TaM-na ‘darkness; mist’
O. Turk. TuM-an ‘darkness, mist’
Lat. TeM-er% ‘I cast shadow’
Lat. TeN-ebras ‘darkness; shadow’ (< *T-M-nbh-)
Latvian TiM-st ‘to darken’
Nenets Ta:-anak ‘full darknes’ (< *TM-gh-+ n-)
Russ. TéM-en’ ‘full darkness’ (< *T-+ M-ny-)
O. Turk. TüN ‘night (< *T-+ M-ny-)
Ewän TiM-i- ‘to grope in the darkness’
Äwenki TäM-2- ‘to grope; to feel in the dark gropingly’
U1#i TäM-ürü- ‘to grope, to feel gropingly’
• Cf. Rom. a (se) întuneca ‘get dark’ from * (în)TuM-neca; cf. also a tuna ‘to
thunder’. If our our approach is accepted, then this may be another word of
Thracian origin in Romanian, with prefix în- < Lat. in, a very frequent
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derivation device in Romanian. NFl Timi; (Romania, several locations), Timok
(Serbia-Bulgaria), Thames etc. are probably derived from the same root.
(4) *D-R- ‘to sting, to scratch’

Avest DaR- ‘a to sting’
Orok DaR-gi ‘harpoon’
Est. ToR-kama ‘to sting’
Fin. TeR-ä ‘sharp’
Lith. DìR-ti- ‘to tear’
Goth. dis-TaíR-an ‘to tear’
(5) *D-W- ‘to cut; a knot, a stump; piece of wood’

Skr. DU-d%&a ‘broken, torn off’
Fin. TY-vi (< *DU-wy-) ‘base of a tree, butt-end’
Äwenki DU-r- ‘to beat, to whip’
Fin. TY-rkätä (< *DU-rky-) ‘to push’
Est. TuU-pi ‘a kick, a strike’
Lith. DÙ-<enos ‘sherds, remnants’
Fin. TY-nkä ‘ a knot, a stump’ (< *DU-nky-)
Lith. D1-<is ‘a strike’
Orok DU-ktä ‘to kick, to strike’
Fin. TeU-rastaa ‘to guide cattle, to push’
(6) *X-D- ‘to catch game, to hunt’

Ul#i XaD-uraku ‘hunt web’
Äwenki AD-il ‘fish web’ (< *XaDi-)
Nanaj XaD-ori ‘to fish with the web’
Skr. AC-ch%=ana ‘to hunt’ (< *XaD-sky-)
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Est. OT-s-tarve ‘target’
Äwenki AD-an ‘(he) shot (with the bow)’
In PB there were 8 words with Dh. Here are 3 examples with the velar
character of the second phoneme:
(7) *Dh-R- ‘to drag along the road’

Old Norse DR-aga ‘to pull’
Äwenki DaR-gidaja ‘aside the road’
Est. TiR-ima ‘to drag’
Skr. DhR-'jati ‘(it, etc.) passes’
• Cf. Rom. a tîrî ‘to drag’. The word is indigenous archaic, and the
relationship with these forms is most probable.
(8) *Dh-N- ‘connected to swidden agriculture; piece of (dry) land’

Nant. T’aN-k/7 ‘burnt’ (< *DheN-g-)
Hitt. DaaN-kui& (< *DhoN-gu-) ‘turned black’
Lat. dial. DaN-ea ‘piece of land’
Skr. DhaN-u& ‘waste, dry land’
Fin. ToN-tti ‘piece of land’
(9) *Dh-Xy- ‘power to make, to set, to found’

Gr. tí-Th0-mi
Old Slavic D0-ti
Skr. Dh,-tar ‘a founder’
Negidal D,- ‘foundation, root’ (*DhoXy-a)
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Evenk Da--a(#n ‘root’
Ved. dá-Dh,-ti ‘(he) puts, sets’
Oro#. DA> ‘a bed’ (< *DheXy-e-)
Ved. DhI-tá- ‘put, set’ (< *DhXy-t-)
Lat. F0-c2 (*DheXy-k-)
Est. TeH-e (< *DheXy-e) ‘action’
Fin. TeH-dä ‘to make’
Goth. ga-D0-ths ‘work, creation’
OCS D0-jati ‘to make’
Est. TöÖ ‘work, thing’ (< *DhoXy-y-)
‘‘Fugitive” (degloe) character of $. There may be identified 17 roots in

PB with S as first or second element
(10) *S-R- (a) ‘to flow, to stream, to spring out; to wash’; various other
meanings related to liquids.
Skr. SaR-# ‘a water spring, a water fall’
Äwenki SaR-gï ‘to murmur (about flowing waters), to purl, to
stream’ (< *SR-g´-)
Est. SoR-u = Fin. SoR-ina ‘murmur, hum, buzz’
Est. SuR-isema ‘to purl, to murmur (about a brook)’
Lith. SR-ovénti ‘to flow’
Gr. HR-e2n ‘to flow’ (< *SR-ein)
O. Ir. SR-?aim ‘torrent, river, brook’
O. Turk. SaR-q- ‘to drip out, to trickle, to flow out’
Hu. SZüR-emleni, SZ@R-Adni ‘to trickle, to ooze’
Korean SoR-ïtta, S$L-g$tta ‘to wash’.
Manchu SüR-a ‘to wash’
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Khanty S$R-6jta ‘to spurt, to spout’
Nenets SaR’-o ‘rain’
O. Mong. SoR-u ‘to suck’
O. Turk. SaR-gur- ‘to empty to the last drop’
O. Turk. SoR-8u ‘bottle for drawing off blood’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to remain cold (like spring-water), to freeze, to ice
up; thin ice; hoar frost’
Gr. HR-2géein ‘to remain cold; to get covered with a thin ice’ (< *SR-xyy-gxy–+ )
Korean SaR-$rim ‘thin ice’
Nenets SaR ‘ice’
O. Turk. SeR-ingülä- ‘to glide over the ice’
Slovene SR-BC" ‘the first thin ice, hoar frost’
O. Turk. SaR-qïm ‘hoar-frost’ (< *SR-ghx–+ )
Korean S$R-i ‘hoar-frost’
Äwenki ‘SiR-gi- ‘to crackle with frost’
Khanty SuR-86tD6 ‘snowdrifts’
O. Turk. SüR-k buz teg ‘cold as ice’
Korean SiR-ida ‘cold (of extremities)
O. Mong. SeR-igün ‘cool’
Gr. HR-2gos ‘cold, hard frost’ (< *SR-xyy–+ -yg-)
Note 1: In Korean, both Boreal R and L became allophones of one double-

valued phoneme. Therefore, Korean L and/or R may reflect both Boreal L or/
and R.
Note 2. In Uralic and Altaic it was impossible to have two successive
consonants at the beginning of a word; a vowel in-between was necessary.
Exception: when the second position was Boreal W or Y, and were then
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vocalised to U or I, the result turned to be consonant + vowel + any sound
(if any).
Note 3. In Greek, the initial IE S + vowel/sonant became H- (spiritus
asper); initial H- may also have other origin, as in the indigenous Pre-Indo-
European words.
• Cf. Rom. a ;iroí ‘to flow, to spill down’; NFl Siret, Siriu. These are
usually held for Thracian (substratum) forms in Romanian or having
unknown origin. The alternance s/; is recorded in other words of Thracian
origin in Romanian. There are other river-names derived from this root
spread a large European area.
(11) *S-L ‘mud, mire; to crawl in mud; serpent; to slip’

Old Frig. SL-#t ‘mud’
Udegej SaL-aha ‘mud; in the forest’
Gr. HéL-eios ‘got in the mud, mire’ (< *SeL-)
Arm. SoL-un ‘animal crawling in mud or mire, a snake’
Fin. SoL-ua ‘to slip, to glide’
Norw. SL-ipra ‘to glide’
Old Germ. SL-augo ‘a snake’
(12) *S-W- ‘pregnant woman; to give birth; family, tribe’

Mansi SU-(ilä ‘be pregnant’
Old Germ. SW-angar ‘pregnant’
Äwenki SU-rki ‘pregnant’
Skr. a-SU-vi ‘gave birth (to)’
Est. SÜ-nnitama, and
Fin. SY-ntyä ‘to give birth (to)’ (< *SU-ny-)
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38
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Fin. SU-ku ‘family’
Avestan HU-n#mi ‘I’m giving birth’ (< *SU-n-)
(13) *N-W- ‘new’

Lat. NoV-us
Fin. NU-ori ‘young’
Ved. NáV-a ‘new’
Gr. Ne-iós (< *NeW-y)
Fin. NY-kyinen (< *NY-ky-) ‘present, actual’; NY.t ‘now’
Est. NÜ-üd (< NW-xy-) ‘now’
Gr. NE-n ‘now’ (< *NW-xyn)
Ved. N1 (< *NW-x-) ‘now’, etc.
(14) *N-X- ‘nose; to smell’

Ved. N,-s# ‘nostrils< nose< (< *NeX-s-)
Solon NÁ-nse ‘nose’ (< *NX-ens-)
Fin. N-enä ‘nose’ (< *NX-en-)
Lat. N,-ris (< *NeX-s)
Est. NoH-u (< *NoX-w-) ‘a cold’
Skr. NA-kra- ‘nose’ (< *NX-ekr-)
Fin. NUU-skia ‘to smell’
Old Norse NF-sa ‘to smell’ (< *NX-ws-y-)
Liquid sonant L; see also (11) *S-L- above
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(15) *L-W- ‘to untie, loose’

Äwenki LU-kirga ‘to untie oneself, get loose’
Gr. LY-% ‘to untie, to release’
Udegej LU-kta- ‘to take off (footware, clothes, etc.)’
Lat. so-LU-% ‘to untie’
Ved. LU-n%ti ‘to dismantle’
Fin. LU-pa ‘solving, unpacking’
Gr. e-LeÚ-theros ‘free, get free’
(16) *L-Y- ‘to stick; to remain’

Latv. LI-mpu’ ‘I stick’
Fin. LI-ima ‘glue’
Gr. a-LéI-ph% ‘I stick’
Fin. LI-ka ‘silt’
Lith. LÄ-kti ‘to stick’
Goth. bi-LeI-ban ‘to stick’
Lat. LI-g% ‘to tie’
Est. LI-itma ‘to match, to unite’
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Bilabials
(17) *P-W- ‘to clean; clean, pure’

Fin. PU-hdistaa ‘to clean’ (< *PW-xt-)
Est. PÜ-hkima ‘to clean’ (< *PW-xyky-)
Est. PU-has ‘clean’
Est. PÜ-ülima ‘to sift’ (< *PW-xy-ly-)
Lat. PU-rg% ‘to clean, to purge’
Fin. PY-ykki ‘a rag’ (< *PW-xyky-)
Lat. PU-tus ‘clean’; Lat. P1-rus ‘clean’ (< *PW-xr-)
Skr. PaV-ita (< *PeW-xt-) ‘cleaned up’
Skr. PU-n#ti ‘(he) cleans’
Khanty PÜ-nata ‘to sift’
Äwenki PU-tä ‘to wipe, make clean’
Old Germ. FoW-en ‘to sift’
Skr. PU-7ya ‘clean’
Korean PU-bida ‘to wipe dry’
Korean PU-sida ‘to wash up’
Oroki XaW- ‘to clean, to wash’ (< *P-W-)
Note. Many Tungus-Manchu languages weakened the initial Boreal P- to

initial X- or H-, just like Old Armenian and Old Cornish.
(18) *P-Y- ‘a fish, any aquatic being; a bunch of dried fish’

Lat. PI-scis ‘a fish’
Skr. PI-=a7 ‘a kind of fish’
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Oro# PI-)ua ‘fish’
Avest PI-xa ‘a bunch, a knot’
Fin. PI-nkka ‘a bunch, a bundle’
Old English FI-n ‘a fin (of fish)’
Lat. PI-nna ‘a feather’
Fin. PI-ikki ‘a thorn; a nail’
Skr. PÜ-nak# ‘id.’
(19) *P-Xy- ‘to blow’

Arm. PH-ukh ‘wind’
Skr. PH-alla ‘wind’
Fin. PuH-altaa ‘to blow’ (cf. PuH-ua ‘to speak’, infra, under entry *B-X, # 22)
Skr. PH-ut- ‘to blow’
Est. PuH-uma ‘to blow’
Est. PõH-i ‘north’ (< ‘main direction of wind’)
Fin. PoH-joinen ‘northern’
• cf. Rom. a pufni, a puf"i, a puh"i ‘to blow (out air with force); to smoke
gently’; see also under entry *B-X. The alternance f/h also proves the
existence of a so-called laryngeal in Thracian, and its survival for some time
in Proto-Romanian. The parallels presented by Andreev are relevant and
offer an impulse to further investigations. See also below # 22. See also the
lexicon of the Thracian elements, which witness the existence of an archaic
velar spirant (in this volume, below).
(20) *B-Xw- ‘to swell, inflate; a prominence’

Nant. P$2-/lta ‘to swell’
Lith. BA-mG bti (<*BXw-m-) ‘to swell’
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Äwenki Bo2-/r/n ‘to stand/go up’
Est. PU-nduma (*BXw-n-) ‘to stand/go up’
Gr. bu-B*-nos ‘a tumor’ (<*BoX-w-n)
Gr. B*-los ‘earth ball’
Fin. PA-isua (<BXw-ys-w-) ‘to swell’
Old Eng. PO-s ‘inflated nose’ (<*BoXw-s)
• cf. Rom. bub" ‘a swollen wound’; its archaic character has been
regularly rejected on the false ground that intervocalic b/v, also
intervocalic l, cannot be preserved. Yet all these are regularly preserved in
the indigenous (Thracian) elements; see next entry.
(21) *B-L- ‘tall; height’

Khanty PeL-ät ‘height’
Cymr. BaL-in ‘tall’
Mansi BoL-)on ‘(sea) wave’
Old Sl. BoL-jiji ‘big, great’
Skr. BáL-a ‘tall tree; power’
• Cf. Rom. bal", balaur(e) ‘a dragon’ (typical mythic figure of the

Romanian tales). The forms are presumably of Thracian origin,
cf. Tri.bal(l).oi ‘three dragons’, the name of a Thracian group. The
preservation of intervocalic -l- is normal in the indigenous Thracian
elements (against its regular rotacisation in the Latin elements v.
preservation if geminate, e.g. caballus > cal).
(22) *B-X ‘to mumble; to babble; to speak furiously, angrily’

Lith. BA-mb'ti ‘to mumble’ (< *BX-m-)
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Khanty P/--/m ‘fury’ (< *BX-m-)
Est. PaH-ane ‘upset, full of angry’
Äwenki Bu--a)a ‘to get angry’
Gr. BA-Hz% (< *BX-w-) ‘I remonstrate’
Fin. PaH-astua ‘get angry’
Gr. BÁ-z% ‘I speak’
Fin. PuH-ua, PuH-ella ‘to speak’
• cf. Rom. a bîigui; cf. a bolborosi ‘to mumble, to babble’ (seemingly there
was a reduplication reconstructable as *bol-bol- > bol-bor-); see also above #
19. A post!classical form *bergolare may be supposed for East Romance. Its
ultimate origin should be held for Thracian.
(23) *Bh-Xw ‘a child, a baby; to give birth; to bring forth

Est. PO-isu ‘a small child’ (< *BhXw-y-)
Fin. PO-ju ‘a (small) child’, PO-jka ‘a child’
W Phryg. BO-i ‘a child’ (< *BhoXw-y-)
Old Germ. BuO-bo ‘a child’ (< *BhoXw-bh-)
Ved. Bh,-va- ‘mother’ (< ‘the one who gives birth’) <*BhoXw-y-)
• cf. Rom. b"iat ‘a boy’; pu;ti ‘a small child’. Forms difficult to analyse,
though presumably archaic. Both b"iat and pu;ti are archaic, sometimes
assumed from Thracian. The alternance b/p may reflect situations of
phonetic syntax. The relation with Fin. pojka ‘boy’ may be useful. May be
ultimately related to a bîigui ? See the preceding entry.
(24) *Bh-Xy ‘to cook in/on fire; to prepare food (on fire); to burn’
Est. PaaH-taa ‘to burn’ (< *BhoXy-t-)
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Old Germ. B,-jan ‘to burn’
Fin. PA-istaa ‘to cook’ (< *BhXy-y)
Old Norse BA-ka ‘to bake’ (< *BhXy-g-)
Skr. Bh-arjayati ‘to cook’
Est. PaH-i ‘spitted meat’
(25) *Bh-L ‘a bladder; to swell’

Irl BoL-gach ‘bladder’
Äwenki BüL-bäntä ‘to swell’
Old Swedish BuL-in ‘to swell’
Fin. PuL-istua ‘to swell’
Fin. PuL-puta ‘to boil’
Lat. FL-%, -#re ‘to blow (with force); to cast metals’
Gr. pa-PhL-áz% ‘I am boiling’
(26) *M-R- ‘death; to die’

Skr. MaR-ati ‘he/she dies’
Est. MõR-vama ‘to kill’
Fin. MuR-ha ‘crim"’
• cf. Rom. a (o) mierli ‘to die’ (colloquial, pejorative and vulgar),
presumably archaic word of indigenous (Thracian) origin; associated, by folk
etymology, to mierl" ‘blackbird’, of Latin origin. The form has withdrawn to
the periphery of vocabulary being in competition with a muri ‘to die’ (< Latin),
but mierlí ‘to die’ should be held for indigenous Thracian.
(27) *M-W ‘a rodent; to gnaw’

Arm. MU-kn ‘mouse’
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45
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Mansi MU-ktun ‘id.’
Gr. MY-ós (<*MW-s-)
Äwenki MU-du- ‘to gnaw, to bite’
Gr. A-MI-tt% ‘I scratch’
Est. MU-lk ‘a hole’
Est. MU-tt ‘a mole’
Fin. MY-yrä (< *MW-xyr-) ‘a mole’
(28) *K-L ‘a cliff, stone; a peak’

Est. KaL-ju ‘cliff’
Äwenki KaL-lakta ‘cliff’
Old Norse HaL-lr ‘id.’
Äwenki KiL-an)a ‘cliff’
Fin. KaL-lio ‘id., a hill’
Lith. KaL-nas ‘a hill’
Hom. Gr. KoL-%nós ‘a height’
Lat. CoL-lis ‘a hill’.
• Many forms with root *K.L., *K.R. are sometimes held for Pre-Indo-
European; future investigations must clarify the relations between PB and
Pre-Indo-European (“Urbian”).
(29) *K-N- ‘a drought; be hungry’

Äwenki KaN-ura ‘to dry’
Gr. KaN-kan-os ‘dry, dried’ (by reduplication)
Lith. KaN-kìnti ‘tormented by thirst’
Est. KaN-natama ‘to torment’
Old Norse HuN-gr ‘hunger’
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46
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Gr. dial. K'N-kein ‘be hungry’
• cf. Rom. chin ‘a torment, a pain’; a chinui ‘to torment’, chinuitor

‘painful’. There are many attempts to explain this word, usually held for a
Hungarian influence, which is unlikely, if at all acceptable. A Romanian
influence in Hungarian is acceptable or, less probably, an independent
preservation of an archaic root in both languages.
(30) *K-M ‘a swamp, a pool’

Lith. KéM-sas ‘a swamp’
Äwenki KuM-ni ‘id.’
Skr. KaM-andha ‘muddy water’
(31) *G-W- ‘hot; fire’

Skr. JV-ala ‘burning’ (< *GeW)
Äwenki GÜ-l ‘to set fire’
Fin. KU-lo ‘fire in the forest’
Old Eng. CW-eodo ‘pitch’
Fin. KY-teä ‘to smoulder; to burn slightly’ (< *GW-txy-)
(32) *G-L- ‘a bird; a beak; neck’

Old Bret. GOL-bina ‘a beak’
Khanty KeJ-/k ‘a long-beaked bird’
Old Eng. CeoL-e ‘neck’
Lat. in-GL-uui's ‘a goitre, crop’
Fin. KuL-aus ‘a swollow’
• cf. Rom. a gîlgîi ‘to gurgle’.

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(33) *G-X ‘seed, grain; to gather grain; a handful of seeds/grain’

Nanaj G,-ktala ‘to go for mossberry’ (< *GaX-kt-)
Ul#i G,-taw ‘a place with seeds/grain’ (< *GaX-t-)
Gr. a-G-eír% ‘I gather’ (< *GX-ery-)
Oro# GA-nnaku ‘to gather seeds’ (<*GX-n-)
Gr. a-G-résthai ‘to gather together’ (<*GX-er-)
Fin. KaH-mallolinen ‘a handful (of)’ (<*GaX-m-)
Fin. KO-ura ‘a handful; dipper’
(34) *Gh-L ‘a swelling, a bump; to get hard; covered by ice’

Khanty KhuJ-ip/7 ‘a bump; a knot (in timber)’ (< *GhoL-wy-)
Russ. KeL-vak (< *GheL-w-) ‘a swelling’
Est. KaL-gistuma ‘to get/become hard’
Est. KaL-kus ‘harshfulness’
Gr. KháL-aza ‘hailstone’
Latvian G#L-a ‘glazed frost’
Fin. KoL-ea ‘cold’
(35) *Gh-N ‘to thrust; to gnaw; to crunch; a wound’

Äwenki GäN-ülä ‘to thrust’
Old Eng. GN-aett ‘mosquito’ = modern form gnat
Old Norse GN-aga ‘to crunch’
Gr. KhN-au% ‘to crunch’
Fin. KyN-siä ‘to scratch’
Goth. GuN-d ‘a wound’
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(36) *Gh-W- ‘to listen (to); to prick up; to stare at; be very attentive’
Avestan GáO-& ‘a listen attentively’ (< *GhoW-s-)
Fin. KU-rkistaa ‘to look at/stare at’
Goth. GaU-mjan ‘to stare’
Fin. KuU-nella ‘to listen to’ = Est. KuU-latama
Protoboreal Spirant %
Had a complex situation in the IE languages. It is thus sometimes

preserved in Hittite and Armenian, rarely in Celtic and Italic IE group. It
was then lost (Ø) or turned to H in PU. The evolution on first position was
different from evolution in the second position. In PIE the situation may be
reconstructed as follows:
(1) if the preceding syllable was stressed > *#;
(2) was lost if the following syllable was stressed, but the syllable got
tamber *a;
(3) in unstressed position between two consonants the result is */ (the so-
called &va indogermanicum);
(4) in unstressed position and neighbouring a vocalised sonant, PB velar
spirant > long sonant;
(5) when the velar spirant immediately followed an unvoiced consonant
> unvoiced aspirated sound;
(6) if in a stressed position, and rules (1) and (5) are not applied it
disappears without any trace;
In the Uralic group, it is usually written -H-, sometimes -#- (Fin. -aa-) in
the radical root, sometimes tamber -". There may be identified 34 radical
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49
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roots in PIE reflecting this simple velar spirant (see also above 6: X-D; 14:
N-X; 22: B-X; 33: G-X).
(37) *X-L ‘lost; stranger, foreigner; neglected’

Est. HäL-bima ‘to loose one’s way’
Gr. AL-H% ‘I wander’ (< *XL-w-)
Äwenki H#L- ‘to vanish’ (< *XaL-lx-)
Est. HuL-gus ‘a vagabond’ = Dor. AL-#t#s (<*XL-éxt-)
Est. HuL-kuma ‘to wander about, tramp over’
Lat. AL-i'nus (< *XL-yéxy-)
Toch. AL-etse ‘a stranger’
Est. HüL-jatu ‘neglected; punished by fate’
Fin. HyL-kiä ‘to reject; to disconsider’
Fin. HaL-veksia ‘to disconsider’
• Cf. Rom. a h"l"dui ‘to wander, tramp over. Sometimes considered of

Hungarian origin, starting from the erroneous principle that words with h
cannot be archaic in Romanian. As repeatedly shown by many examples,
this is a wrong assumption. See also hal ‘bad condition, bad look’, which
interferes with – but is presumably independent from – Hungarian hal ‘to
die’ in its turn related to Finnish kuolla ‘to die’. For the regular
correspondence Hu. h – Fin. k compare Fin. kala – Hu. hal
‘fish’ (homophonic with the preceding form ‘to die’).
(38) *R-Xw ‘a device for pulling; a sledge, sleigh; to take in a sledge’

Fin. RaaH-ata ‘to pull, to drag’ (< *ReXw-xt-)
Ved. R,-sabha ‘a cart’ (< *RoXw-s)
Est. RüH-kima ‘to push ahead hard’
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50
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Est. RA-ke ‘an animal used for driving/traction (e.g. horse or ox)’
Lat. RO-ta (< *RXw-t-) ‘a wheel’
• Cf. Rom. roab" ‘a wheelbarrow’; undoubtedly an archaic word of

Thracian origin. Assumed by author of Preie. origin, but this view may be
reconsidered after Andreev‘s arguments. The preservation of intervocalic .b- is
normal in the indigenous Thracian elements of Romanian.
PIE Palato-velar phonemes (&'()*'()*+') had two foci of articulation.

The centum languages lost the palatal component, i.e. were later confused
with the simple velar sounds; the satem languages later lost the velar
component and thus turned into fricative sounds.
There was a similar and parallel evolution in PU: the Fennic group had
an evolution similar to the IE centum group, and the Ugrian group had a
similar evolution to the IE satem group. The Proto-Altaic group also
followed the satem evolution.
In a systemic-diachronic analysis, one of the most important results of bi-
focal consonants was vowel degree *L in PIE, and the closed degree of
synharmony in Uralic and Altaic.
There may be identified 12 PIE roots with palato-velar Ky in Anlaut
and Auslaut.
(39) *Ky-Xw- ‘to get tired; lack of power; be weak’

Gr. KA-mn% ‘I am losing my powers’ (< *KyoXw-ny-)
Äwenki MÖ-ni- ‘to breathe hard’ (< *KyoXw-ny-)
Skr. ÇI-myati ‘gets tired’
Nant. M/--m/lt/ta ‘to become weak’ (< *KyXw-ml-)
Gr. KÓ-ma (< *KyoXw-mn-)
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Vedic Ç3-ryat' ‘gets withered’ (PIE *NO-y- < *KyXw-ry-)
Est. KõH-etu ‘weakened’
(40) Ky-W- ‘dog; to call the dog’

Skr. ÇV-#. ‘a dog’
Äwenki MU-lipkin ‘to tie the dog’
Est. KiU-natama ‘to shout; to yelp’
Ved. Ç#U-vana ‘specific to a dog’
Lith. 3V-ìlpauti ‘to whistle’
• Cf. Rom. ;o ‘an incentive for a dog to attack someone’ (obviously

closely related to Lith &uo ‘a dog’); cu!u ‘a call for a dog to come; a generic
name for dogs’ (see also # 104); a chiui ‘to shout’; a (s)cheuna (about dogs)
and a schel"l"i (* sche-la-la-) ‘to yelp, to yap’. • Romanian witnesses two
different phonetic treatments: one specific to the satem area (which is most
expected in the context of a probably Thracian element), the other specific
to the centum area. On the other hand, the words are archaic, without any
identifiable source for a recent borrowing. This example re-opens the long
discussion of the possible centum elements in Thracian (otherwise now a
proved satem idiom).
(41) Ky-Xy ‘to boil, to cook; a recipient for boiling/cooking’

Skr. ÇA-yati ‘(it) boils’ (< *KyeXy-y-)
Est. KeE-tma ‘to boil’ (< *KyeXy-t)
Khanty Ma- ‘fierbere’ (< *KyoXy-)
Lith. PE-la ‘to get warm’
Fin. KieH-ua ‘to boil’
Lat. CA-let (< *KyXy-l-)
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Oro#. MÏ-la4an ‘a boiler’
Est. KiH-vatama ‘to seethe’
The reflex of *')in 5 PIE roots:
(42) Gy-N ‘to remember, remembrance; an angle; a knee (< ‘to make a
sign in form of an angle in order to remember’)
Mansi QoN-do ‘to remember’
Skr. ja-JÑ-#yat' ‘(he) knew it, understood’
OCS ZN-ati ‘to know’; ZN-ak! ‘a sign’
Äwenki. )%:-kat ‘to remember; to think’
Gr. GN-Rrisma ‘a sign’
Lith. KéN-klas ‘a sign, a signal’
Nanaj QiN-)# ‘a sign on something’
Gr. G%N-ía ‘angle’
Lat. GeN-u ‘a knee’
Skr. J#+N-u ‘a knee’
Khanty MäN-( ‘a knee’
Hit. GieN-u ‘a knee’
(43) Gy-W ‘to feel, to taste; tasteful’

Gr. GéU-omai ‘I feel, I taste, I try’
Äwenki QU-(2 ‘tasteful’
Est. KiU-satus ‘temptation’
Fin. KiU-saus ‘ temptation’
Skr. J*-&áyat' ‘tasteful’
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(44) Gy-Xy ‘to bud, to corner, to germinate’

Khanty MeG-/ (< GyeXy-x) ‘in bud, in blossom’
Arm. CE-D ‘a bud, scion, offspring’
Latvian dial. Z0-iju ‘ I am in bud/blossom, I grow up’
Fin. KeH-ittyä ‘to grow, to develop’
Lith. KA-ndas ‘a jaw’
Old Eng. CeA-fl ‘jaw‘‘ (> jaw)
Lith. K0-b'ti ‘to eat’
Sound *+'
It preserved the original sound as well as aspiration in IE; it lost

aspiration in PA (similar with Dh, Bh, Gh); there was a different evolution in
PU; in Fennic-Baltic languages was later confused with K, and in
Obi!Ugrian was treated as Kh. Also in Obi-Ugrian the three features (voiced
v. unvoiced, palato-velar v. simple velar, aspirated-nonaspirated) underwent
diachronically different intensities.
(45) Ghy-Xw ‘fire; pyre; wood for fire’

Äwenki Qo--o ‘fire’
Alb. zjarr ‘fire’
Fin. KO-kko (< GhyXw-ogh-) ‘fire’
Nanaj QO-k# ‘wood for fire’
Lith. KA-rija‘ ‘burning wood’
Old Irish GE-l ‘burning’
Russ. ZO-la ‘ashes’
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54
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(46) Ghy-N ‘to step; thigh; walk’

Lith. KeN-giaì ‘I step’
Äwenki QaN-t# ‘to walk’
Khanty Kh$N-tta ‘to go away, go far’
Fin. KiN-ttu ‘a leg’
Gr. dial. KhN-oí' ‘(STUVW) ‘articulation’
Est. KiN-ts ‘a thigh’
Gr. KhóN-onos ‘cartilage, gristle’
Skr. jaX-HA-s ‘walk’
Old Germ. GaN-g ‘a passage (= a place for walking)’
(47) Ghy-R ‘harsh, thorny; a boar, a pig’

Lat. HiR-tus ‘harsh’ (< *GhyeR-t-)
Est. KaR-vane ‘id.’ (< *GhyR-w-)
Gr. KhoiR-ídion ‘little pig’ (< *GhyoR-y-)
Fin. KaR-ju ‘a male-pig for reproduction’
Khanty KhaR ‘a male animal’
Nanaj QoR-xori ‘little pig’
Solon QiL-(x# ‘little pig’
Palatovelar %')changed to *' after a stressed syllable, and to *L before a

stressed syllable. In other cases was confused with X (see above examples 9,
19, 24, 41, 44)
(48) Xy-R ‘to put away, to tear; to divide, to separate’

Hit. HaR-ra ‘a to tear’ (< XyoR-x-)
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Khanty AR-îta ‘to tear’
Fin. HaR-ventaa ‘to make rare, to make small’
Latvian dial. 0R-st ‘to put away’ (< Xye-XyR-)
Äwenki HéR-kan ‘a knife’
Khanty AR-/8 ‘dividing’
Est. HaR-unema ‘to branch, to make a ramification’ (< *XyR-wn-)
Palatal Sonant ,, of consonantic type, was later vocalised (see also

above examples 16, 18)
(49) Y-N ‘a foreign woman; to steal the bride, stolen/eloped woman; to

become a bride’
Skr. IN-vati ‘takes the bride by force, elopes the bride’
Skr. I:-g# ‘eloped (woman)’
Komi IN ‘wife’
Ogam IN-igena ‘wife, young wife/woman’
Russ. dial. IN-ka ‘a foreign woman’
Nanaj IN-# ‘husband‘s young sister-in-law’
Khanty J/M-köl ‘id.’
Lith. dial. ÍN-t' ‘id.’
Äwenki IN-/n , pl. ‘id.’
Labiovelar &-() *-() *+-, also bi-focal, lost the labial component in
the satem languages, whereas the labial focus was stressed in the centum
area.
(50) Kw-R ‘worm; to turn, to spin’

Bret. PR-e7v ‘a worm’ (< *KwR-emv)
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OCS MR-"v" (< *KwR-wy-) ‘a worm’
Skr. KY-mi ‘a worm’
Old Turkish QuR-t ‘a worm’ (< *KwR-t-)
Old Germ. HWeR-fan ‘to turn, spin’
Khanty KöR-/5tä ‘to move’
Est. KeeR-ama ‘id.’
Gr. KyR-bies ‘turning post’
Old Norse HVeR-fa ‘to turn’
Fin. KieR-tää ‘to turn, change route’
(51) Kw-L ‘a roller (put under); to roll; axle; to roll on an axle’

Fin. KuL-jettaa ‘to drive, to carry’ (< *KwL-xy-)
Khanty KüL-/5ta ‘to roll’ (< *KwL-Xxy-)
Avest ZaR-aiti ‘to turn’ (*KweL-)
Khanty KöL-kiw ‘a wheel, a spinning top’ (< *KweL-gy-)
Orok XuL-upti (< *KwL-wp-) ‘(water) eddy, whirl’
V. prus. KeL-an ‘a wheel’
Gr. PóL-os ‘axle’ (*KwoL-)
Fi. KeL-a (< *KweL-) ‘a wave’
(52) *T-Kw ‘a swift movement; to beat rapidly (about heart); be bold; to run’
Est. TuK-selda ‘to toss, writhe, to strain’
Ved. TaK-vá ‘swift’
Fi. TyK-yttää ‘to writhe, to pulse’
Skr. TáK-ati ‘to walk’
Uged TuK-eä ‘to walk’
Lith. TeK-ù ‘I walk’
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Cymr. TeB-et ‘a walk’ (*TeP- < *TeKw)
Cymr. go-DeP ‘a ground, a field (for competition, battle)’ (< *TeP- <
*TeKw)
*-)lost its labial component in the centum languages, and thus became G.
In the Tungus-Mand)ur languages, the reflex was a combination of an
unvoiced velar spirant with a voiced sonant, usually accompanied by a
vocalisation of the latter by which the velar spirant was weakened to a
pharyngal sound. In the Uralic group we may identify either a labial sonant W
(Obi-Ugrian languages) or a voiced dental spirant V (Baltic-Fennic group).
(53) *Gw-R ‘a mountain, a hill; a slope; a forest’

O. Sl. GoR-a ‘a hill’ (< *GwoR-x-); cf. Pre-IE *K-R-, *G-R-, mainly in
numerous mountain-names
Fin. VuoR-i ‘a hill’ (< *GwoR-xwy-)
Äwenki HöR-ögö ‘a hill’ (*GwoR-xyg-)
Mansi Ur-ala ‘a peak’ (< *GwR-xl-)
Äwenki UR-äd2 ‘mountainous’
Gr. BoR-é's ‘a wind blowing from the mountains, from the north’
Est. VeeR ‘a slope’
Khanty UR ‘mountainous chain’
Fin. VaaR-a ‘a mountain’
Orok XuR-än ‘hill; forest’
(54) *Gw-Y- ‘alive, to live; to come to life after hibernation’

Avestan GaY-% ‘life’ (< *GwoY-)
Lat. U3-uus (< *GweY-w-) ‘alive’
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Oroki UJ-ugu ‘alive’ (< *GwY-w-)
Est. Vi-lgas ‘alive’ (< *GwY-l-)
Nanaj UJ-än‘alive’
Gr. BE-omai ‘I live’; biós ([\]^) ‘life’
Est. VI-rguma ‘to come to life; to wake up’
Mansi WäJ-)ü ‘to come to life’ (< *GweY-gyw)
Fin. VI-rota ‘to come to life’ (< *GwY-r-)
(55) *Gw-L ‘to hunt, to kill for hunt’. Fundamental term of archaic life.
Khanty WäJ-iDta ‘to hunt, to fish’ (< *GwL-y-)
O. Eng CweL-lan > ME killen > to kill.
Khanty WeL-/nteta ‘to catch, to kill’
Gr. BéL-emmon ‘a spear’ (< *GweL-xy-), BéL-os ‘id.’
Äwenki UL-ti ‘id.’
Sound .*+-
(a) The languages which neutralised the opposition aspirated–

non!aspirated (Slavic, Baltic, Iranic, Albanian, Balto-Fennic, Tungus-
Man)ur), *Ghw and *Gh were confused;
(b) Celtic, which neutralised PIE Dh/D, Bh/B, Gh/G and Ghy/Gy, preserved
the opposition Ghw v. Gw, namely in strong positions, in Anlaut, after
consonants, before a labial sonant; the result was G and B. Otherwise put, the
labio-velar mark backed the contrast with aspiration, lost in the other cases.
(c) Khanty, which merged Gh and Ghy into Kh, preserved the opposition
against G (reflected as K) and against Gy (reflected as (), and neutralised the
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opposition Ghw - Gw, reflected as the labial sonant W. Thus the labial
component became predominant.
(d) The languages which regularly preserved the opposition aspirated v.
non-aspirated (Sanskrit, Greek, Armenian, Germanic) and also those
languages which sometimes preserved this opposition (Latin, Hittite,
Tokharian), the opposition Ghw-Gw was preserved. It is interesting to note
that Germanic and Latin reflected Ghw by the sonant W, as in Obsco-
Umbrian. Also, when the initial spirant was lost, the Tungus-Man)ur
languages has a similar evolution. All these details show that labiovelarity
was a distinctive mark in Proto-Boreal. It is therefore natural that the
emergence of $ in Ablaut, a genetically essential feature, led to the strong
trinary opposition *$/*L/*zero.
(56) *Ghw-N ‘to run for hunt, to chase; to follow, pursue for hunt’
Äwenki UN-ke ‘to follow, to pursue (for hunting)’ (< *GhwN-k-)
Fin. VaaN-ia ‘to follow’ (< *GhwoN-xy-)
O.Sl. GoN-iti ‘to run (initially for hunt)
Nanaj XaN-p#(i ‘to run for hunt’ (< *XuaN-p#-)
Skr. ja-GhN-' (passiv) ‘is pursued, followed’
Äwenki HaN-7i- ‘to pursue’ (< Huan-/ngi < GhwoN-xn-)
Orok UN-änä ‘to smell, to sniff something (< to smell for hunting)’
Äwenki H'N-nuka ‘a dog which brings the hunt’
Gr. Th'N-% ‘I touch, I strike, I hit’; pe-PhN-émen ‘to strike’
• Cf. Rom. a pîndi ‘to pursue, to watch hunt’, presumably via Thracian,
from *GhweN-d-, with Ghw > p. If so, the evolution PB *Ghw > p, via
Thracian, is an outstanding phonetic phenomenon. See also next entry.
(57) *Ghw-R- ‘to get warm (by sun, hearth, fire); embers; fever; shiver’
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Gr. e-ThéR-'n ‘I made (it) warm’ (< *Gwer-xy-);
Äwenki HuR-ga ‘to get meat dry under sun’
Skr. GhaR-má- ‘blaze; a recipient for cooking’
Äwenki UR-kan ‘to boil/cook a bear‘s heart’
Lat. FoR-nus (> furnus) ‘an oven’
Lith. GaR-úoti ‘to evaporate’
Gr. ThéR-m' ‘heat; temperature’
Arm. _eR-mn ‘heat’
Est. Vär-in ‘fever’
Fin. VäR-ähdys ‘shiver’
• cf. Rom. a pîrli ‘to singe, to scorch’ with the same evolution *Ghw > p
(see also above under example 56). Seems related to pururi (adverb)
‘eternally’, initially a noun + the plural mark -uri for the neuter gender. The
meaning of *pur- ‘fire’, hence pururi ‘eternal fires’ > ‘eternal (in general) in
one of the most interesting semantic evolutions in Romanian, proved also by
the probable relationship *pur ‘fire’, pururi ‘eternally, for ever’ – a pîrli ‘to
singe, to scorch’.
(58) *Ghw-Xy ‘to light(en); to be transparent; bright, yellow; bile, gall’

Lith. GA-ñdrytis ‘become bright, day comes’ (< *GgwXy-y-)
Khanty WA-r/`ta ‘to be transparent’ (< *GhwXy-r-)
Gr. PhA-idrós ‘bright’
Latvian GA-iés ‘bright’
Khanty WaG-l/`ta ‘to come to light from the forest’ (< *GhwoXy-lx-)
Fin. VaA-lea ‘bright’ (< *GhwoXy-lx-)
Latvian DzE-ltens ‘yellow’ (< *GhwXy-el-)<
Äwenki U--2 ‘bile’
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Old Norse GA-lla ‘bile’ = Gr. khol', Lat. fel
Sound %-. Differences of evolution against X occurred when a second

focus was present, i.e. an additional labialisation of articulation, especially
after stressed syllables; the result was *% as a result of contraction. Before
the stress the result was *$. In the other cases, the evolution of Xw and X was
the same (see also above examples 20, 23, 38, 39, 45).
(59) *Xw-R ‘embryo, bud; offspring, scion; to corner, to germinate,

germination; to grow; to go out’
Gr. ÓR-menos ‘scion, etc.’ (< *XwoR-m-)
Fin. OR-aat ‘germinated cereals’
Mansi OR-xo ‘growth’ (< *XwoR-xw-)
Skr. AR-dhitum ‘it grows’ (< *XwoR-dh-)
Solon OR-%kto ‘grass’ (< *XwoR-xw-<)
Lat. OR-ior ‘to grow, come out’ (< *XwoR-y)
Est. OR-ased ‘vegetables’
Hit. AR-aai ‘to come out’ (< *XwR-x-)<
Äwenki OR-#nu(a ‘grass’
Similar to Y, the labial sonant /) was of consonantic type in PB.

Vocalisation to U occurred first between non-sonant occlusives and
connected to syllable reduction to null in the first root (see also above
examples 1, 12, 17, 40).
(60) *W-N- ‘beard; old man’

Polab VoN-s ‘beard’
Est. VaN-a ‘old man’
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Mansi U:-ga ‘eldest of the house’ (< *WN-g-)
Lat. VeN-eratus, VeN-eror
Fin. VaN-hentua ‘get/become old’
V. irl. F0-s ‘beard’ (< *WeN-s)
Gr. i-ON-thás ‘hairy (about beard)’ (< *wi-WoN-dh).
Type Q1-J2 (see also above examples 4: *D-R-; 36: *Gh-W)
(61) *T-R- ‘to rub (in order to make fire); to crush; to perforate; to spin, to
twist’
Ukr. TeR-ty ‘to rub’
Lat. TeR-% ‘to rub, to clean by rubbing’
Äwenki TiR-avüm ‘to rub a deer‘s/reindeer‘s back with the burden/load’
Gr. TR-ape2n ‘to crush’
Äwenki TüR-ükä ‘to crush’
Lat. TR-?d% ‘to push by force, to drive’
Solon TiR-ä ‘to crush, to squeeze’
O. Germ. DR-#en ‘to spin, to screw’ = Eng. draw, drew
Est. TüR-utama ‘to spin’
Skr. TR-ásati ‘(he etc) shivers, trembles’
Khanty TaR-/l/ta ‘id.’
• Cf. rom. a tîrî ‘to drag’. The archaic meaning should have been ‘to drag
a hunted animal; to drag (an object)’.
(62) *Ky-Y ‘a nest, a lair; a mobile dwelling; to erect a mobile dwelling’

O. Germ. HeI-m (< *KyeY-m), O. Eng. H#M, Gothic HaiM-s
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Äwenki M-%ra (< KyY-oxwr-) ‘a place for congregation’ (surrounded by
stakes)
Fin. KiI-nittää ‘to fix, to tether’
Est. KöI-tma ‘to tie’
Dor. KoÍ-t# ‘a nest’
Evenk M-%lbok ‘a nest, a lair’ (< *KyY-oxwl)
Votyak ÇaY-# ‘a place for rest’
Evenk M-#pät#- ‘to stay in a nest’ (< *KyY-exp-)
Khanty Mï-7w/s/7 ‘a lazy person, who stays at home’
Hit. KiI-tta ‘to lie in bed’
Evenk MaJ-jo ‘winter place for fish’
• Cf. Rom. co-cioab" ‘a small, semi-subterranean dwelling’. In some

forms, co- functions as an expressive first part of a compound; as for -cioab",
the evolution PB KY- > Thr. ( (satem) > Rom. ( would be normal.
(63) *Bh-N ‘to tie; a knot; to wrap’

Skr. a-Bh#N-tsit ‘tied (up)’ (< *-BhoN-dhs-)
Khanty P$N’-t’a ‘to tie, to wrap’ (< *GhoN-dhy-)
Nanaj BoM-bi ‘to make a knot; to tie’ (< *BhoN-bh-); see below Rom.
bumb
Khanty P/:-/kseta ‘to switch in a knot’ (< *BhN-ks-)
Gr. PHA-kelos ‘a tie; an arm’ (<*BhN-kel-)
Est. PaM-p ‘a tie, a knot’ (< *BhN-bhx-)
Khanty P": ‘a tie’
O.Ir. BuiN-ne ‘a tie, a junction’
Khanty P$N’-p/ ‘a tie’
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• Cf. rom. bumb ‘a button’ (< ‘tied up to clothes’) < *B:-b(h)-, with the
treatment IE 7 > Thr. um, un, sometimes denasalised (as in sut").
(64)*Ghy-W ‘to flow, to spill; to pour’

Gr. é-KheU-a ‘(he) poured’ (< *Ghyew-s-)
Fin. KaU-ha ‘a spoon’ (< *Ghyow-x-)
Gr. Khobs ‘a measure for liquids’
O. Eng. G'O-tan ‘to pour; to flow out’
Khanty KhU-ce8ta ‘to flow (about sweat)’
Skr. ju-H#V-a ‘to pour; to put a liquid on fire’
Äwenki QU-pkusin ‘to flow out, spring out’
Khanty KhU-tta ‘to flow’
Äwenki QÜ-rkü ‘a rapid flow/course of water’
Lat. FU-nd2 ‘to flow’ (*GhyW-nd-)
Udegej QaW-aha ‘a tributary (of a larger river)’
Type Q1-J2-C3(C4) (see also above examples 7: Dh-R-; 46: Ghy-N-)
(65) G-R- ‘to make sign for remembrance; to carve, make a sculpture’
O. Germ. KeR-be ‘a cut/carved sign’
Gr. GR-áph% ‘I cut/carve = I write’; cf. Lat. s-CR-2b%
Fin. KiR-ja (< GR-y) ‘a book’; KiR-joittaa ‘to write’ etc.
Evenk GiR-k#t ‘to make a sculpture, make an ornament’
Latvian GR-ebt ‘make a (wooden) sculpture’
Est. KiR-ipuit ‘piece of wood with ornaments’
Äwenki GäR-bä- ‘to clean a piece of wood of branches/twigs; to trim a
tree’
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Fin. karsia ‘to trim a tree’
Ul#i GaR-ala- ‘to make rowlocks’ (sailor‘s term)
Est. KR-iipuma ‘to scratch’
O. Eng. CeoR-fan ‘to make a sculpture’
• Cf. Rom. ghear" ‘(an animal’s) claw’; a zgîria ‘to scratch (with the
claws; the ususal term referring to animals)’; a zgîrma ‘to scratch by digging,
to dig (also used in connection with animals, e.g. dogs or pigs)’ etc. These
must be archaic Thracian (Pre-Romance) terms. The relationship ghear" – a
zgîria, a zgîrma is based on an evolution *G-R- > Thr. *gher-/(s)gher- with s/z
usual in such and similar cases. See also (75) below.
(66) Kw-Y ‘silence, quiet; a place for rest’

Lat. QuI-'s ‘silence, calm, rest’
Goth. HweI-lan ‘to stop, to stop for rest’
Skr. CI-rá ‘slowing down’
Äwenki KuJ-ürgä ‘a chain, a loop (= trap)’, i.e. so that animals may not
move (< *KwY-or-)
O. Norse Hv3-ld ‘rest; quiet’
Gr. dial. KoI-má% ‘I lay myself down for sleep’
O. Sl. po-KoJ-6 ‘quiet, silence; rest’
Äwenki KüI-ki ‘a shell; a place where molluscs are’
Khanty KöJ-ä ‘a remote territory; a place for rest’
Lith. KáJ-mas ‘a small village, hamlet’
(67) Gy-L ‘to enjoy (hunt, game), good luck (when preying); bright,
beautiful (about weather)’
Gr. a-Gál-esthai ‘to enjoy something’
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Ul#i QuaL-a- ‘to be lucky; to catch a lot of fish’
Fin. KeL-po ‘good working, diligent’
Mansi QüL-gän ‘good luck, success’
Gr. GeL-á% ‘I jubilate, am happy’
Est. KiL-ama ‘to shine, be bright’
Gr. dial. GL-ainoí pl. ‘bright’
Fin. KüL-tävä ‘bright’
Mansi QäL-a- ‘to turn bright’ (about weather)
Dor. GaL-#n# ‘brightness’
(68) B-R- ‘breath, to breathe; to snort, rattle; neck, throat’; hence also
‘narrow, get narrow’
I. Gr. BR-ónkhos ‘part of the throat where air passes through’
Khanty P"R-8ï = Gr.
Gr. BR-ankhá% ‘I snort’
Lith. BR-a&k'ti ‘to rattle’
Fin. PäR-skyä ‘to snort’ = Est. PuR-istama
II.Goth. ana-PR-aggan ‘to belch’
III. Mansi BaR-g’asxun ‘narrow’
Gr. BR-akhHs ‘short’
O. Mong. BaR-i8d ‘narrow, tight’
The sequence Q1-J2-C3-C4 (see also examples 17: P-W-; 50: Kw-R-)
(69) D-Y- ‘bright day, bright sky, bright place, to show oneself to light’
Lat. DI-'s ‘day’
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Skr. DÍ-na ‘day’
Äwenki DI-la(# ‘send light’ (about sun)
Äwenki D3-ktä ‘sunset’
Arm. TI-v ‘day’
Fin. TaI-vas ‘cloud’
Skr. DY-#u ‘cloud’
Gr. DI-opteu% ‘I watch, look attentively’
Mansi TaJ-t/8ta ‘to watch’
Fin. TuI-jottaa ‘to stare at, watch attentively’
Skr. DI-çati ‘(he) shows up’
(70) Bh-W ‘a watch, a guard; to guard when in danger; to rescue’

O. Sl. B7-deti ‘wake up; be attentive’
Lith. BU-ndù ‘I watch, I guard’
Oro#i BU-ji ‘I watch, I guard’
Skr. Bh*-tsyat' ‘(he) watches’
Arm. DU-<em ‘I rescue’
Solon B1-g? ‘I protect’
O. Sl. BljU-df ‘I protect’ (< *BheW-dh-)
(71) Ghy-Y ‘winter; cold weather; to freeze’

Hitt. GI-mmaanza ‘winter’
Lat. HI-ems ‘snow’
Khanty KhaJ-m/8/lta ‘to freeze’
Arm. JI-un ‘snow’
Gr. KhI-%n ‘snow’
Khanty KhoJ-8/t ‘snowhill’
Khanty KhÏ-7/8t/t/ ‘to snow, snow falls’
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Gr. KhÍ-metlon ‘frozen place’
Fin. KI-rsi ‘frozen land’
O. Mong. QaI-r ‘thin ice’
(72) D-L (a) ‘long, get/become long; to do something for a long time; (b)
sweet’
I. Czech DL-e ‘length’
O. Pers. DaR-ga- ‘long’ (< *DoL-ghx-)
O. Sl. pro-D6L-iti ‘to lengthen’
Khanty TäL-/8s/ta ‘to stretch’
II. Norw. dial. TöL-a ‘to put off (an action), act slowly’
Skr. DR-#ghimán ‘length; a long time’
Cymr. DaL-iaf ‘I keep for a long time’
III. Äwenki DaL-r/ ‘sweet; good tase’
Lat. DuL-cis = Gr. GL-ykHs ‘sweet; enticing’
Negidal DaL-ïgdï ‘sweet’
Q1-J2-C3-C4. See also example 5: D-W; 18: P-Y-
(73) K-W (a) ‘sour milk; sour in general; sour drink; (b) drunk’
Äwenki KU-runu ‘sour milk’
O. Sl. KY-sl! ‘sour’ (< *Kw-xs)
Alb. KO-s ‘sour sheep milk’
O. Sl. KV-as! ‘a sour drink’
Goth. HW-athjan ‘to foam, produce foam’
O. Turkic QU-muz ‘a specific fermented horse milk’
W. Khanty KÜ-g ‘dizzy, drunk’ (< * Kw-xt-y-)
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(74) T-L (a) ‘carry a baby to bed; to beat the child; to take the baby from
bed; to beat (= set) a baby‘s bed; (b) a plain, even place’
O. Latin TuL-%, te-TuL-2 (tul2) = fer%
Khanty TuL-t/ta ‘to bring’
Lith. TáL-<yti ‘to beat’
Fin. TaL-lustaa ‘to beat’
Skr. TuL-ayati ‘look up, watch up’
Lat. ToL-l% ‘to look at a child as a token of being his father’
Lat. TeL-lus ‘earth’ [this seems rather derived from Pre-IE *T-L- ‘earth’]
Mansi TaL-gan ‘surface’
Skr. TaL-a ‘plain, even field’
Fin. TiL-a ‘a place’
Äwenki ThL-bi8 ‘a location, a place’
(75) Gh-R ‘to remove by scraping; to sharpen, sharp’

O. Eng. GR-indan ‘to scrape, to grind’
Khanty Kh$R-/8t/ta ‘to peel, to scrape’
Gr. dial. án-KhaR-mon ‘a sharp stone’
Lith. GR-em<iù ‘to scrape’
Est. KõR-s ‘a sharp trunk’
Norw. dial. GaR-e ‘sharp’
Äwenki GaR-pa ‘to chase with a bow’ (< *GhR-px-)
O. Eng. GR-anu ‘moustache’ (i.e. ‘sharp, uneven’)
• Cf. Rom. gresie ‘whetstone, gritstone’ (< ‘stone used for sharpening’).
The word is usually held for indigenous Pre-Romance (Thracian); it is
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obviously related to the family ‘to sharpen, sharp’. See also (65), G-R-
above.
(76) Ghw-Y ‘vein; ribbon, thread; to reel, reel’

Cymr. GY-an ‘veins’
Lith. GI-sla ‘vein’ (< *GhwY-xws-)
O. Sl. (and Pan-Slavic) KI-la ‘vein’
Khanty WI-7k ‘a ribbon’
Negidal UJ-(äw ‘a chain for tethering the dog’ (< *GhwY-kyew-)
Est. VI-hk ‘a tie, tethering’
Est. VI-ht ‘a reel’
The Proto-Boreal explosives. See also examples 3: T-M; 28: K-L
(77) T-N ‘to pull, take out; to stretch’

Skr. TáN-itum ‘to pull’
Ul#i Ta:-mi ‘to stretch’
Gr. TeN-% ‘I stretch’
Udegej TaN-a ‘to pull’
Äwenki To:-k% ‘to pull’
Est. TaaN-dama ‘to pull, take out’
Lat. TeN-dere ‘to pull, stretch’ (with many derivatives e.g. Rom. a întinde
‘to stretch’)
Est. TuN-g ‘pulling, stretching’
(78) Ky-R ‘a flock, a herd, a group of animals; a row, to set in a row/ in

rows’
Est. KaR-i ‘a herd’
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Fin. KaR-ja ‘a herd’
Goth. HaíR-da (< *KyeR-dh-)
Ir. CR-od ‘cows’ (generic)
Skr. CaR-dha ‘a flock of wild animals, a drove, a flight’
Gr. KóR-thys ‘a row’
Skr. ÇR-'7i ‘a row’
Äwenki MaR-da ‘knitting; wickerwork’
Äwenki MiR-an ‘to plait (a girl‘s hair)’
• Cf. Rom. cîrd, cârd ‘a flock, a flight’ and ciread" [(iriad/] ‘a herd’; the
word must have been assimilated at chronologically discriminated periods:
the former must be indigenous Thracian, the latter of Slavic origin; at least
this would be the acceptable solution which may thus explain the centum
character of the former, and satem character of the latter. Even so the
examples may raise additional question as both Thracian and Slavic belong
to the same satem group.
(79) *P-L ‘full; richness; water growth = a flood’

Gr. PL-éos ‘full’
Goth. FuL-ls ‘full’ (< *PL-xyn-)
Ul#i PüL-ä ‘rich’
Avestan PaR-/nahvant ‘rich’
Gr. PoL-Hs ‘more’
Goth. FiL-u ‘much’
Fin. PaL-jon ‘much; very’
Goth. FL-%dus ‘a flood’
Oro# PaL-dan ‘water surface’
Skr. PL-aváyati ‘(it) inflates, grows out’
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O. Sl. PL-uti ‘to swim, to float’
• Cf. Rom. pîlnie, pâlnie ‘a funnel’ < ‘an object for filling recipients’; the word
is of unknown origin or held for Slavic origin: *p!ln! ‘full’. Yet the derivation
and the meaning reject such a hypothesis, rather a Thracian element.
(80) K-R- ‘bark, crust; harsh; hard; a harsh/hard surface or object’

O. Sl. KoR-a ‘a bark, crust’
Fin. KaaR-na, KuoR-i ‘a bark, crust’
Khanty KäR ‘bark, crust’
Fin. KaR-kea ‘harsh, hard’
Negid KuR-kur%j2 ‘harsh, hard’
Fin. KaR-ski ‘harsh’
Lat. CoR-ium ‘bark, crust’
Gr. KR-'pís ‘a barrel‘s bottom, sole = harsh surface’
Lith. KùR-p' ‘footwear’ (= ‘which gets harsh by wearing’)
• Cf. Rom. zgrun!uros ‘harsh, hard’ < s-KR-unts-ur-os, with unvoiced s-k-
sequence turned to voiced in the vicinity of liquid r; cf. zgîria, zgâria ‘to scratch’,
zgîrma, zgârma (about animals) ‘to dig/scratch the earth’; zgard" ‘a chain/rope for
tethering a dog, a horse’ (< gard ‘a fence’) etc. Cf. # (65) and (75) above. All
these forms in Romanian reflect the indigenous, Thracian heritage.
(81) Ky-L ‘to incline, to bend, a bend; to set ear to the earth; to listen
attentively’
Fin. KaL-istua ‘to bend’
Est. KaL-duma ‘to bend to one side’
Yakut KäL-täpü ‘to bend to one side’
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Lith. PL-Hti ‘to bend’
O. Mongol KeL-tegei ‘bent, oblique, wry’
Gr. KL-2tHs ‘a bend, inclination’
Äwenki MäL-än ‘a hill‘s slant’
Fin. KaL-teva ‘bent’
O. Mong. KeL-bei ‘to bend’
O. Germ. HaL-d%n ‘to bend’
Lat. aus-CuL-t% ‘I listen to, hear to’
Äwenki MeL- ‘to listen (for a short time)’
• Cf. Rom. a ciuli (urechile) ‘to listen attentively’ (now especially about
dogs on guard); PB Ky > Thr. ( would be the expected evolution in a satem
idiom.
(82) P-R ‘ahead, straightforward; to walk/go ahead’; hence ‘to go after, to

follow; to ask for’
Khanty PuR ‘(go) ahead!’ (incentive for dogs)
Russ. PeR-eg ‘to push ahead’
Mansi FaR-&a- ‘to go ahead’
Khanty PïR-t ‘ahead!’ (incentive for dogs on traction)
Ul#i PaR-gan ‘bold’ (= always ahead in battle, when hunting)
Äwenki PuR-a ‘to follow’
O. Germ. FoR-ska ‘a request, begging’ (< *PR-skw-)
Est. P#R-ima ‘to beg, ask for’
Skr. PY-ccháti ‘(he) begs, asks’
Khanty PïR-/8s/ta ‘to beg’
(83) Ky-N (a) ‘a shell; concave; to sound muffled, dull’
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Gr. Kó:-khos ‘a shell’
Skr. Ça:-khá- ‘a shell’
Äwenki MiN-ar2n ‘concave’; MiN-aka ‘bending, curving’; MiL-kitla ‘a shell’
(< *KyeN-ky-); MuN-#tï ‘loud, voiced’.
(b) A derived meaning is ‘temple’, ‘outer ear, auricle (< ‘ear-shell’):
Slovene SeN-ce ‘a temple’ (< *KyeN-k-)
Yakut M#N-(ik ‘a temple’
O. Mongol MiM-arxai ‘a temple’ (< *KyeN-m-)
(84) Dh-W (a) ‘a girl, daughter’; fundamental, archaic term of family

organisation
Arm. DU-str ‘daughter’
Fin. TY-ttö ‘girl, daughter’ (< *DhW-dhxy-)
Khanty jU-gi ‘bosom’
O. Sl. DeV-a ‘girl’
Äwenki DU-)i ‘a puppet, a doll’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to play, frisk, colt; a child‘s game’
Lith. D1-kti ‘to frisk, colt’ (< *DhW-xwk-)
Äwenki Dk-jä ‘to babble’
Khanty TU-D/sD/ta ‘to prank’
Oro#i D1-ru7u- ‘to jump’
Äwenki DäW-äj ‘a dance song’
Khanty TU-rseXl/ta ‘to be glad, joyful’
(85) P-N
(a) ‘fist; (closed) hand; fingers’
O. Sl. Pe(N)-%&"$‘fist’
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O. Germ. F1-st ‘fist’ (< *FuN-st < PIE *PN-st-)
Goth. FiN-grs ‘finger’ (< *PeN-kwr-).
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to work with a tool in his/her hand; to do
something manually; to get ready’
Gr. PoN-é% ‘I work; I get ready’
Est. PoN-nistus ‘effort’
Fin. PiN-nistää ‘to take care’
Arm. HeN-i ‘(he) knit, wove’ (< *PeN-y-)
Est. PuN-uma ‘to knit, weave’
(86) Bh-R (a) ‘to bring the prey; prey, hunt’

Gr. PheR-% ‘to bring’
O. Mong. BaR-i ‘to take; to carry’
Khanty PiR-esta ‘to choose’
Khanty PõR-m/s ‘prey’
Solon BäR-i ‘a bow (for hunting)’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to catch a bear; a bear’
Yakut BuoR-s#- ‘to catch a bear’
O. Eng. BeR-a ‘bear’
Skr. BhaL-la- ‘bear’ (< *BhoR-lo-)
Äwenki BiR-in ‘female-bear’
Äwenki BaR-kana ‘a bear‘s offspring together with its mother’
(87) D-N (a) ‘tongue; to speak; to explain’

O. Lat. DiN-gua (> lingua) ‘tongue’
O. Norse TuN-ga ‘tongue’
Skr. Dal-sayati ‘to speak’ (< *DeN-s-);
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Est. TöN-kama ‘to grumble, to sulk’
Skr. Dal-çati ‘to speak, to explain’ (< *DeN-ky-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to teach, to instruct; to learn, to get knowledge’
Gr. DA-mmenai ‘to teach’ (< *DN-exym-)
Gr. dedí-DA-gmai ‘he learnt’ (-DN-g-)
Est. TuN-dma ‘to learn, to know, to get knowledge’
Fin. TuN-to ‘feeling, sense’
(88) G-Y (a) ‘mosquito, flea, an insect‘s sting’

Khanty KöJ-7i ‘mosquito’
Äwenki GI-dlin ‘to suck’ (about mosquitos etc.) (< *GY-dl-)
Fin. KI-rppu ‘flea’
Est. KiI-n ‘gadfly’
Russ. dial. KI-gló ‘a wasp sting’ (< *GeY-gl-)
Nanaj GI-ltär ‘pervaded, be stung’
Fin. KoI ‘moth’
Arm. e-KI-c ‘pervaed, be stung’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘fang; to wound; sharp’
Nanaj GoJ-a ‘a fang’
Est. KI-hu ‘fang’
Oro#i GoJ-ow ‘to wound’
Fin. KeI-häs ‘spear’
Äwenki GI-li7a ‘sharp’
Roots of the type Q1-H2-; see also examples (9) Dh-Xy and (33) G-X
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(89) Gy-X ‘to get married; to have offspring’; essential terms referring to
family and family relations
Äwenki Q,-l#- ‘to get relatives (by marriage), < *GyeX-lx-
Gr. GA-mé% ‘I get married’ (< *GyX-m-)
Est. KiH-luma ‘to get betrothed’ (< *GyeX-lw)
Nanaj dial. Q, ‘a man, a husband’
Khanty Me--l/w ‘like father, similar to his father’ (< *GyeX-lw-)
Udegej Q, ‘a relative’
Fin. KiH-la ‘betrothal’
Fin. KÄ-ly ‘sister-in-law’ (< *GyX-lw-)
Gr. GA-ló%s ‘sister-in-law’
(90) Dh-X ‘a bush, shrub, hedge; branch; full of bushes/hedges’

Skr. DhA-nvana ‘a bush’ (< *DhXe-nw-)
Fin. TiH-eikkö ‘a hedge’ (< *DheX-xyy-)
Cymr. DA-il ‘leaves’ (< *DhX-ly-)
Fin. TuuH-ea ‘bushy, with (many) branches; thick’ (< *DhoX-xw-)
Est. TiH-e ‘bushy; thick’
Gr. ThÁ-leia (< *DhX-ley-), ThÁ-los ‘a branch, a twig’
Nanaj D,-ina ‘to get big, increase’ (< *DheX-yn-)
Mong. DA-rwai ‘wide, open’
(91) Kw-X ‘cough; to cough’

O. Eng. Hw*-sta ‘cough’ (< *KwoX-sta)
Est. KöH-ima ‘to cough’ (< *KwoX-y-)
Corn. P,-z ‘cough’ (< *KweX-s)
Khanty KH-ol ‘cough’ (< *KwX-ol-)
Äwenki K,-ld/ ‘to snort, to rattle’
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Alb. KO-llë ‘cough’
Fin. KöH-ä ‘(dry) cough’
Mansi K,-7, interj. imitative of dry cough
Khanty KH-ot ‘cough’
(92) P-Xw
(a) ‘defence fire; to put fire to; to scatter fire’
Hitt. PaH-hur ‘fire’
Negid P*-)a ‘a spirit of fire’ (< *PoXw-gy-)
Gothic F*-n ‘fire’ (< *PoXw-n-)
Oro#i P*-pi ‘birch bark on fire’ (< *PoXw-py-)
Khanty P"--/rla ‘to burn with flames’
O. Sl. PaL-iti ‘to burn’ (< *PoXw-l-)
Nanaj PO-7ki ‘to smoke’
Oro#i P1-nan)ï ‘to smoulder’ (< *PXw-wn-)
Khanty Pö--tä ‘to scatter sparks’
Ul#i PO-si ‘a spark, glitter’
(b) Derived meaning: to defend; to pasture, a herd, a flock of animals’
PuO-ltaa ‘to defend’ (< *PoXw-l-)
Skr. P,-yya ‘defence’
Hitt. PaH-&- ‘to defend; to pasture’
Fin. PA-imentaa ‘to pasture’
Gr. P*n-ÿ ‘a herd’ (< *PoXw-yw-)
Skr. PA-çú ‘a herd’
Äwenki H-#da ‘a herd’ (< *PXw-exd-)
• Rom. a pîlpîi ‘to smoulder’ (< *PoXw-l-p), related to group (a).
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(93) G-Xw ‘to shout, yell; a bird‘s cry, etc.’

Russ. GA-m ‘loud voices, shouts’ (< *GoXw-m-)
Est. KA-rjatus ‘a shout’
Äwenki GO-don ‘gossips’
O. Germ. K1-ma ‘a shout’ (< *Gxw-wm-)
Mansi GO-ngan ‘a shout’
Russ. dial. GA-jag ‘to shout’ (< *GoXw-y-)
Fin. KA-rjua ‘to shout’
Russ. GA-rkag ‘to shout’ (< *GoXw-r-)
Cymr. GA-ran ‘crane’
Udegej G*-k(i ‘an owl’ (< *GoXw-k-)
• Cf. Rom. ga, gaga ‘a goose shout’, gîsc" ‘goose’, gînsac ‘a male-goose’,
and the whole Germanic and Slavic family of these forms. I assume that the
Romanian forms interfere with, not are borrowed from, Slavic.
Additionally, the Bulgarian form (g"ska) seems to reflect the Thracian
heritage in Bulgarian rather than the Slavic form.
Type Q1-H2-C3(C4); See also examples (22) B-X; (39) Ky-Xw
(94) K-X ‘to wish, according to one‘s wish; to defend collectively; to

repel the enemy’
Skr. KH-a=ati ‘he wants (it)’ (< *KX-or-)
Latvian K,-rot ‘to be thirsty; to want, rave for’ (< *KoX-r-)
Khanty KH-ojta ‘to want, wish’ (< *KX-oy-)
Ved. #-K,-yíya ‘a wish, desire’ (-KoX-y-)
Avestan KA-y# ‘I want’
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Ul#i KA-li ‘to want; to need’
Skr. K,-ma- ‘desire’
Nanaj KA-mor ‘together; unification’
O. Lat. CO-m = CU-m ‘(together) with’
O. Turk. QA-ma8 ‘whole, all as a whole’
Äwenki K,-lbä ‘together, in one place’
Oro#i KA-pali ‘together, in one place’
O. Mong. XA-mtu ‘together, in one place’ (< *KX-em-)
O. Germ. HuO-ta ‘helmet’ (< *KoX-dh-; usually explained from PIE root
‘to cover, protect’)
Fin. KaH-akka ‘a fight, harassment’
Ul#i K,-dara ‘to act bravely’
Mansi KA-dura ‘to repel the enemy’
The evolution of meaning ‘to want, wish’ – ‘to defend’ is explained via
the intermediate meaning ‘to wish to defend’, while ‘to want’ – ‘to praise’
via ‘to wish all good to happen, to greet’.
(95) Ky-X ‘a branch; to branch out; a pitchfork, pale, harpoon; to use fork,
pale, harpoon, etc.’
Nanaj M,-m# ‘a branch, branching out; a fork, a pitchfork’ (< *KeyX-m-)
Skr. Ç,-kh# ‘a branch, a horn’ (< *KyeX-kxy-)
O. Norse H,-r ‘a pitchfork’ (< * KyX-n-)
Cymr. CA-ngan ‘a branch, pitchfork’ (< *KyX-ong-)
Khanty Mä--in ‘a twig, a poker, a stick’
Lith. PÂ-kos ‘a fork’ (< *KyX-okxy-)
Oro#i MA-pka ‘a fork’
Est. KeH-tima ‘to act, to use’
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Oro#i M,-sima ‘harpoon’
(96) Gw-X ‘to swim to the bank/shore, to depart from the bank/shore; to
go down to the bank/shore’
Khanty W/--/lta ‘to go to the bank (coming from the forest) (< *GwoX-xl-)
Äwenki U--? ‘a bank, shore’ (< *GwX-wxy-)
Skr. ja-G,-ma ‘he came’
Negid U--wu ‘to stand up, fly up’
Dor. B,-se?mai ‘I go up, climb’ (pqVTr, < *GweX-s-)
Äwenki U--as- ‘to sit on the deer, horse’ (< *GwX-es-)
Khanty We--titta ‘to go for the bank/shore’
Dor. bé-B,-ka ‘he descended, went down’
(97) G-Xy ‘embankment, earthwork, earth; soil, field, piece of land’

Lat. ag-Ge-r ‘earthwork, earth’ (< *-GXy-er-)
O. Norse KA-sa ‘to make earthwork, to dig the earth’ (< *Gxy-s-)
Est. KoH-e ‘dug out’ (< *GoXy-)
Gr. G0 ‘earth’ (< *GeXy-)
Fin. KE-to ‘a meadow’ (< *GXy-edh-)
Fin. KE-santo ‘a field’ (< *Gxy-es-)
Fin. KE-nttä ‘field’ (< *GXy-en-)
W. Cymr. G,-l ‘an even piece of land’ (< *GXy-sl-)
Est. KoH-t ‘a piece of land, a place’ (< *GoXy-dh-)
(98) Gh-Xy ‘to catch game, caught game’

Khanty Kha--/rta ‘to catch’ (< *GhoXy-r-)
Skr. ja-H,-ra ‘he caught, he took’ (< *-GhoXy-r-)
Hom. e-KhA-ndanon < *-GhXy-nd-
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Fin. KaH-mia ‘to catch, to get’
O. Pers. GA-rb#yati ‘he catches’ (< *GhXy-or-)
O. Ir. GA-ibid ‘he catches, takes’
O. Eng. bi-GE-tan < *-GhXy-ed-
Äwenki Go-- ‘to hunt, go for animals with precious fur, by using dog-
traction sledges on low snow’
Lith. GA-vHba ‘prey’
Ul#i G0-xü ‘hen-hawk, prey bird’ (< *GheXy-xw-)
(99) Ky-S ‘knife; to cut; cut off/out’

Skr. Ç#S-á- ‘battle knife’ (< *KyoS-x-)
M. Ir. CeS-s ‘a pervading weapon’
Mari K/Z-/ ‘knife’
Gr. KS-yrón ‘razor’
Ul#i MaS-u ‘to cut, to split’
Lat. CaS-tr% ‘I cut’
O. Turk. KeS- ‘to cut’
Gr. KS-ésma ‘cut sign’ (< *KyS-es-)
Gr. KS-s% (tur) ‘to polish, get a smooth surface’
Type Q1H2C3-C4; see also examples (20) B-Xw; (41) Ky-Xy
(100) T-X ‘to melt; snow thaw in spring; low water(s); a pond, lake’
O. Sl. TA.jati, TA.jf ‘to melt, to thaw’ (< *ToX-y-)
Dor. T,-k% ‘I melt’ (passive) < * TeX-k-
Khanty T"--ïru7kh ‘waters after snow thaw’
Khanty To--ï ‘spring’ (< *ToX-y-)
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Khanty T-$t/mtta ‘to melt, thaw’ (< *TX-ot-)
Gr. TA-kerós ‘melting, thawing’ (< *TX-ker-)
Gr. T-énagos ‘low waters’ (< *TX-enx-)
Khanty je-- ‘low water’
Äwenki T,-7k2 ‘dead branch (of a river)’
Mansi TA-tla ‘dead branch (of a river)’
Gr. T-élma ‘still water’
Äwenki Ta--in ‘a pond’
(101) K-Xy ‘to catch, get with a hook, a hook, a claw, to catch with the
claw; a sheepfold, a pen’
Khanty Ke--r/mt/ta ‘to fix with a hook’
Khanty Kä--ri ‘a hook, a pitchfork’
Khanty Kö--cogi ‘to fix a bow’
Khanty Ki--/c ‘a pitchfork, a pale’
O. Eng. H*-c ‘hook’ (< *KoXy-g-)
Russ. KO-gog ‘a claw’ (< *KXy-y-)
Negidal Ke--jan ‘sea-hawk’
Lat. CA-pess% ‘I catch, hunt’ (< *KXy-p-)
Lat. C0-pi (< capio) < *KeXy-p-
O. Mong. Xa--#- ‘to hunt/chase the game; to impale (= kill) the game’
MHD HA-g ‘a fold, a pen, an enclosure’ (< *KXy-gh-)
(102) D-Xw ‘to give; a present; a gift, sacred gift (to gods), offering; to
bring in general’
Gr. dí-D*-mi ‘to give, to offer’
Äwenki D*-)i ‘an offering (upon sacrificing an animal)’
Nanaj D*-bo ‘to present/offer food to a deceased person’
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Lat. DA-ps ‘an offering’ (< *DXw-p-); D*-num
Hitt. DaaH-hi ‘I carry’ (= a gift)
Khanty Tu--itta ‘to bring’ (< *DXw-y-)
Est. ToO-ma ‘to bring’
Skr. D,-çati ‘to bring an offering’
Mansi DO-bo ‘to bring an offering’
(103) Ghw-Xw ‘to be poor; shortage; to ask for, to beg; to be thirsty’

Gr. PO-thé% ‘to long for, to desire; to regret’ (< *Pho-th- < GhwXwo-dh-)
Est. VA-jama ‘to be poor, in need’ (< *GhwXw-y-)
Äwenki U--i ‘shortage; a little’ (< *GhwXw-yx-)
Lith. GO-b&áuti ‘to have a taste for’ (< *GhwoXw-b-)
Khanty Wa--epta ‘to ask for, to beg’
Khanty Wa--/nta ‘to ask for’
O. Ir. ro-G,-d ‘asked for, begged’
Lith. GO-dùs ‘greedy’
Type Q1-H2-C3-C4; see also examples (19) P-Xy; (23) Bh-Xw
(104) Ghy-X ‘an offspring screaming; to scream with hunger; to call; to

open the muzzle’
Farsi Z,-gh ‘offspring’
Russ. dial. KO-pag ‘to scream’
Fin. KeH-to ‘a cradle’ (< *GhyeX-t-)
Khanty Kh-ol-t/ta ‘to make noise, be noisy’ (< *GhyX-ol-)
Arm. JA-in ‘voice’ (< *GhyX-yn-)
Negidal QA-rbala ‘to ask, beg’ (< *GhyX-rb-)
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Oro#i QÄ-mü ‘hungry’
Solon QoG-or ‘shortage of fodder’
Äwenki vo- ‘to be in need’
Skr. HÁ-vat' ‘a call’
Fin. KU-tsua ‘to call’
Russ. ra-Ze-vag ‘to open the mouth, muzzle’
Latvian K,-vaties ‘to open, to yawn’
Äwenki Q,-wni- ‘to yawn’
Yakut Q,-sïi ‘to yawn’
(105) T-Xy ‘to go out for fire; to bring fire; to burn, burning; burning
pain’.
Negid To--ol% ‘to go out for fire’
Khanty Tü--/t ‘fire’
Äwenki To--o ‘fire’
Skr. T,-pana ‘to burn, to cremate’ (< *ToXy-p-)
Fin. TuH-o ‘destruction’ (TuH-o-poltto ‘to destroy by fire’)
Fin. TuH-a ‘ashes’ (TXy-gx-)
Est. TaH-m ‘soot’
O. Eng. DhE-ccan ‘to burn’ (< *Txye-gx-)
Skr. T,-tapti ‘to suffer with a burning/painful disease’
Fin. TU-lehdus ‘burning’ = O. Eng. Dh0-or (< *TeXy-wr-)
Latvian T1-kt ‘to swell, inflate’; cf. Lat. TU-mor.
(106) Kw-Xy ‘to lie in wait for; to still-hunt; to lurk’

Gr. T0-ré% ‘to guard, to surveille’ (< *KweXy-r-)
Fin. KoH-data ‘to wait for a long time’ (< * KwoXy-d-)
Khanty KÜ-gitta ‘to sniff, to smell (an animal)’ (< *KwXy-dy-)
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Skr. ci-K3-hi ‘(he) observed, guaded, found out’ (< *-KwXy-ydh-)
Est. KE-stma ‘to last/wait for a long time’ (< *KwXye-st-)
O. Mong. KE-)ij'nei ‘since (a) long (time), ever since’ (< *KwXye-gy-)
O. Sl. MA-s8 ‘time’ (< *KweXy-s-)
Khanty KH-o8- ‘long, long time’ (< *KwXy-oxw-)
Alb. KO-hë ‘time, weather’ (< *KweXy-sx-)
Gr. é-PA-thon ‘to endure = to accept pain for a long time’ (< *-KwXy-dh-)
Fin. KÄ-rsiä ‘to endure’
Lith. KA-n(ia ‘to suffer, endure’ (< *KwXy-nt-)
(107) Gw-Xy ‘woman, wife’

Gr. GY-n' ‘woman’ (< *GwXy-nex-)
Mansi UX-än ‘younger brother‘s wife’ (< *GwXy-en-)
Gothic Q0-ns ‘woman’; related to Eng. quean > queen
O. Ir. BE-n ‘wife’
Äwenki U--2 ‘elder brother‘s wife; wife of father‘s/mother‘s younger
brother’ (< *GwXy-yx-)
Solon U-jö ‘to get married’
Fin. VA-imo ‘wife, woman’ (< *GwXy-ym-)
Mansi UX-ümä ‘the wife of father‘s younger brother’
Tokh. ÇÄ-m ‘woman, wife’ (< *GwXye-m-)
• Rom. zîn", zân" ‘a fairy queen’ (< ‘sacred woman’ < ‘woman’) belongs
to the same group; note the sacred character of the word, of Thracian origin,
due to an euphemistic evolution: a taboo to pronounce sacred words. The
common words for ‘woman’ in Romanian are of Latin origin: femeie (< Lat.
familia) and muiere (< Lat. mulier). And also Sl. <ena belongs to the same
family. The Romanian forms are currently held for being derived from Lat.
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Diana (with many hesitations of some linguists), a hypothesis difficult to
accept.
Type Q1-H2; see also (24): Bh-Xy; (45): Ghy-Xw
(108) D-X ‘river; to flow; a waterfall’

Avestan D,-nu- ‘a river’
Negid D,-ptu- ‘to fall’ (about a river)
Ul#i D, ‘a river-source’
Khanty ja--wl ‘a rivulet flowing from a lake’
Äwenki D,- ‘to pass a river’
Khanty j#--alt ‘a deep and narrow river’
Äwenki D,-8u ‘to swim across a river’
• Cf. Rom. Dun"rea ‘The Danube’ < Thr. D,-n-ar-, with the change # > ô [uxo]
> u in Late Thracian, a phonetic evolution proved by other examples too, e.g.
Mure; < ancient M#risia etc.; the second part of the compound must be related
to NFl Aar etc. The Romanian form is original and different from that used by
neighbouring languages. Anyway, Sl. Dunaj, Dunav reflects a borrowing from
Romanian after the evolution #>ô>u was completed.
(109) Gh-X ‘to let things be, to dawdle; to stay longer; to remain the last,
to hesitate; a coward; scare’
Lith. GA-i&ti ‘to hesitate’
Fin. KuH-nailla ‘to dawdle’
Lith. G*-glinti ‘to walk hesitatingly’ (< *GhoX-ghl-)
Lith. G*-<inti ‘id.’ (< *GhoX-ghyy-)
Khanty KhI-gga ‘to stay’
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Lat. HA-erere ‘to stay in a given place’
Est. KôH-klema ‘to remain last’
Nanaj GA-ja)i ‘to have insomnia’
Est. KaH-tlema ‘to hesitate’
Khanty Khy-zgpakh ‘coward’
Est. KoH-kuma ‘to be scared’ (< *GhoX-ghw-)
Skr. Gh,-ura ‘scare’ (< *GhoX-wr-)
(110) P-X ‘to look for food, to gather food; to make provisions; food; to
dry food’
Lith. PE-náuti ‘to look for food’ (< *PX-en-)
Khanty Pe--inteta ‘to make fruit, be in blossom’
Est. PaH-k ‘a cone’ (of coniferous tress)
Est. PäH-klite ‘harvesting, gathering food’
Udegej P,-)æ ‘a rake’
Ul#i PA-ji ‘to make provisions’
Fin. PäH-kinä ‘a nut’
Lat. P,-bulum ‘food’ (< *PeX-dhl-)
Lat. P,-nis ‘bread’
Gr. PA-téomai ‘to eat, to nourish’ (< *PX-t-)
• Cf. Rom. pit" ‘(a kind of) bread’; the word must have been present in
Late Latin/Early Romance, cf. It. pizza. The origin is unknown, but we must
assume that it reflects a borrowing from late Thracian or Illyrian, maybe
Celtic. Rom. pit" and Italian pizza reflect a probable common origin, a
vernacular term which ultimately gleaned into Post-Classical colloquial
Latin.
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(111) Ghy-Xy ‘hand; an action with hand; to throw, cast; a weapon which
is cast; a kick with hand’
Hitt. KiE-&&ar ‘hand’ (< *GheXy-sr-)
Est. KÄ-e (< *GhyXyo-t) = Fin. KÄ-si = Hung. kéz ‘hand’
Skr. HÁ-sta- ‘hand’ (< *GhyXyo-st-)
Fin. KÄ-tella ‘to shake hands’ (< *GhyXyo-tl-)
Fin. KÄ-mmen ‘palm’
Fin. KaH-va ‘a handle’
Dor. Kh0-r = KhEI-r ‘hand’
Khanty KhA-jw8tw8wlta ‘to be caught’
Skr. HI-n%ti ‘he casts’
Negid Q,-l(ükkälä ‘to throw, cast’ (< *GhyXye-l-)
O. Germ. G0-r ‘javelin’
Äwenki QÄ-wgä ‘a harpoon’
Ul#i QA-bdu ‘a strike, a hit; casting (with a weapon)’
Mansi QÄ-sori ‘id.’
• I. Cf. Rom. zestre ‘a dowry’ (= ‘what the bride brings in her hand into
her new, husbands‘s house) < Thracian *ze-sr-e, with the specific evolution -
sr-e > -str- (e.g. as in river-names Rom. Strei, Strem!, Thr. Strymon, Bg.
Struma etc.). The word is sometimes considered as reflecting Lat. dextra
‘left’ (i.e. left hand), which is assuredly an erroneous etymon. The original
meaning of the word in Thracian must have been ‘hand’, later specialised
with this meaning when was replaced by Latin manus, Coll. Lat. * mana >
Rom. mîn", mân".
II. Rom. a azvîrli ( * a-ZV-îrli) ‘to cast, throw away’, i.e. ‘to release from
the hand’.
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(112) D-Xy ‘a defence encirclement of coniferous branches; a dwelling, a
house, to build a house; a tent, to set the tent; to tether’
Khanty j"--wa ‘a shelter of coniferous branches against snow and wind’
(< *DeXy-wx-)
Est. TE-lk ‘a house, a shelter’ (< *DXye-lgh-)
Gr. DÓ-mos etc. (< *DXyo-m-)
Fin. TE-ltta ‘a shelter’
Khanty T"--t6 ‘a portable bed of reindeer fur, a kind of stretcher’ (<
*DXy-dhxy-)
Äwenki Da--rït ‘temporary’ (< ‘temporary settlement’; < *DXy-ry-)
Gr. DE-m%; Gr. dí-D0-mi (< DEXy)
Khanty Tw{-jtä ‘to tie’; T$--i ‘a match, a joint’
O. Norse TI-mbr ‘timber’ (< *DXye-m-)
(113) Gh-Xw ‘to bend; a bend, a curve; a hook; wry, awry; lame’
Mansi G‘*-lor&ä ‘to bend’ (< *GheXw-l-)
Norw. GA-ga ‘to bend, become curve’ (< *GhXw-6gh-)
Russ. dial. GA-bagsa ‘to bend’ (< *GhoXw-b-)
Est. KoO-lutama ‘to bend, to curve’ (< *GhoXw-l-)
Khanty Kh$--taDen ‘curved, bent; wry’
Mansi GO-)i ‘(with, having) wry fingers’
Fin. KO-ukku ‘a hook’
Äwenki G*-kal# ‘to fix a hook’
Khanty Kha--6w ‘a hook’
Nanaj GO-ku ‘(having) wry nose or hand’
Khanty Khy-D6s ‘lame’
Äwenki GÖ-zä(ä ‘a lame person’
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• Cf. Rom. gîrbov ‘a stooping person’ (< ‘having a curve back’) and gheb
‘a hump’. Both forms must have been inherited from the Thracian; gîrbov
has a Slavic appearance, but further details lack for a deeper analysis.
(114) Kw-Xw ‘a sharp, pointed stick; to sharpen; to sting; a stake; a fence

of stakes’
O. Norse HVA-tr ‘sharp’ (< *KwXwo-d-)
Est. KôH-utama ‘to sharpen’ (< *KwoXw-w-)
Äwenki K*-7ki ‘a sharp beak’ (< *KwoXw-n-)
Äwenki KU-wur ‘to perforate, to drill’
Ukr. KO-loty ‘to prick, to sting’ = Khanty Kh|-8iDt6ta ‘id.’ (< *KwXwo-xl-)
Lith. KuÕ-las ‘a stake’
Äwenki KU-r' ‘a fence of stake, a fold, a pen; a courtyard’
Mansi KU-wara ‘to make a courtyard’ [= ‘to fix stakes for delimiting the
courtyard’]
• Cf. Rom. clon! ‘a beak’ and clan!" ‘door handle’ (< ‘a piece of wood
pervading the door’); the words must have been inherited from Thracian,
therefore the sequence cla-/clo- is normal, i.e. does not change to che/chi
[ke/ki] as in the Latin elements. The alternance a/o in clan!" v. clon! must
reflect a reality in Thracian.
(115) Bh-X ‘light: daylight or moonlight; to set light on; bright; lightning;
to turn white, whiten; moon’
Skr. Bh,-ti ‘to set light; to turn bright (about weather)’ (< *BheX-)
Äwenki Ba--urïn ‘bright (sky at the beginning of winter)’
Khanty PÄ-t68ta ‘to be bright’ (about sky on good weather)
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Äwenki B}--6lt6n ‘moonlight’
Gr. dial. Ph,-nai ‘to light, to lighten’
Est. PA-istma ‘to light’
Khanty P5-lekhintta ‘to thunder, to flash, to lighten’
Nanaj BO-ldal(ak ‘lightning’
Gr. Homeric pe-Ph0-setai ‘to glitter, to flash’
Äwenki BA-gdal# ‘to whiten’
Lith. BO-lúoti ‘to whiten; to turn white’
Solon B0--a, Skr. Bh,-santa, Bh0-ba- ‘moon’
• Cf. Rom. a se bucura ‘be happy, enjoy something’, NP Bucur; Alb. bukur
‘bright’; archaic words of Thracian origin. The original form must have
been *b#k-, with the change # >ô > u, o in Late Thracian and Romanian as
proved by other examples: *D#n-6r- > Rom. Dun"re ‘the Danube’; *M#r-isia
> Mure; etc.
(116) K-Xw I. ‘to bite; to pinch; to gnaw; a nut’; II. ‘to dig; a cavity; deep;
dipper’
I. Latvian KO-st ‘to bite’ (< *KoXw-)
Skr. Kh-#dati ‘(it) bites, gnaws’ (< *KXw-oxwd-)
Arm. XA-canem ‘I bite’
Lith. KÁ-ndu ‘I bite’
Gr. KÁ-ryon ‘a nut’ (< *KXw-rw-)
Äwenki KO-(ikta ‘a nut’
O. Germ. HA-sal ‘a nutbush’
II. Khanty Kh-ï7ta ‘to dig’ (< *KXw-en-)
Skr. Kh-ánati ‘(he) digs’ (< *KXw-on-)
Khanty Kh-"Dïta ‘to dig’
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Russ. KO-pag ‘to dig’
Khanty Kh-ot6kh ‘a cavity, a hollow’
Mansi KO-bi ‘a cavity’
Khanty K~--ri ‘deep’ (about recipients) (< *KoXw-ry-)
Äwenki K*-mba ‘a dipper’
Ul#i KO-durpu ‘a dipper’
Oro#i K*-ndi ‘a dipper’
• Cf. Rom. c"pu;" ‘a tick’ (Melophagus ovinus), presumably of Thracian

origin, whereas Rom. c"u; < Lat. cavus ‘deepened, hollowed out’ may also
belong to this root, via Latin.
(117) T-Xw (a) ‘to stay, be on guard; to guard, to guard, watch an

unknown person; defence’
Äwenki Tä--ät- ‘to stay on guard’ (< *TeXw-xt-)
Khanty Tı--6sta ‘to guard, to watch’ (< *TXw-est-)
Lat. T1-tus ‘a safe place, beyond any danger’ (< *TXw-wt-)
Äwenki Tö--6n- ‘be on guard, watch’ (< *ToXw-xyn-)
O. Sax. ThA-u ‘watch’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘far away, over there; therefore, so’
Oro#i T*-to ‘far away, over there’
Khanty T$--6nam ‘there’
Lat. is-T1-c (< *TXw-wk-)
Khanty T$--6pa ‘over there; in that part’
Nanaj T* ‘look over there’
Est. ToO ‘that one’
Gothic ThA-ta ‘that (one)’
Äwenki Tu--i ‘so, in that way’
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Gr. Homeric T•-s ‘thus, in this way’
(118) B-Xy (a) ‘to baa, to bleat; a sheep, ram, wether’

Lith. B0G-bti ‘to bleat’ (< *BeXy-b-)
Russ. dial. BE-kag ‘id.’
Äwenki B0-rü ‘sheep’ (< *BeXy-rw-)
Alb. BE-rr ‘a ram’ (< *Bxy-er-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘sheep stomach; sheep fur; a lay for sheep; a
shepherd’s stick’
Khanty Pa--D67ne ‘a ruminant animal’s stomach’
Oro#i BA-gda ‘sheep fur’ (< *BXy-ghwdh-)
Fin. PeH-ku ‘a straw lay for sheep’
Fin. PaH-nat ‘straw layer’
Lat. BA-culum ‘a shepherd’s stick’
Gr. BÁ-ktron ‘a shepherd’s lay, bed’
• Cf. Rom. a beh"i ‘to baa, to bleat’, via Thracian, which reflects a
conservative preservation of the velar spirant (otherwise known as &va
indogermanicum); we have shown elsewhere that Thracian and, for some
time, Proto-Romanian had a laryngeal reflecting this archaic sound. Also
bîr, now obsolete: ‘a sheep’ (cf. Alb. berr), but still frequent as NL, NM
Bîrsa, Bârsa, bîrsan ‘from Bîrsa’, i.e. a specific sheep fur from that area. Cf.
also Czech beran ‘a ram’.
(119) Gw-Xw (a) ‘big horned animal of the Bos family: buffalo, cow; a
herd of horned animals; udder’
Gr. Dor. B€-s ‘a cow, an ox’ (< *GwoXw)
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Skr. G,-u- ‘a cow, an ox’ (< *GwoXw-w-)
Khanty Ü-k6s ‘a bull’ (< *GwXw-wyg-)
Arm. KO-v ‘a cow’ (< *GwXw-w-)
Äwenki HU-kun ‘udder’ (< *GwXw-kw-)
Lith. Gu*-tas ‘a herd’ (< *GwoXw-t-)
Äwenki U--uwa ‘a herd’ (< *GwXw-ow-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘manure, dung, compost; to depose excrements; to
damage’
Russ. GA-dig ‘to depose excrements’ (< *GwoXw-dh-)
Lith. GA-dinti ‘to damage, turn wrong’ (< *GwXw-odh-)
Fin. VaH-inko ‘a damage’
• Cf. Rom. balig" ‘an animal excrement, dung’; b"legar, b"ligar ‘manure’;
archaic indigenous terms of Thracian origin. Its place here is seemingly
confirmed by the regular change PB Kw-, Gw- > Thr. p, b respectively.
Further analyses should confirm, or not, our hypothesis. All the terms refer
to a usual, standard archaic activity: herd keeping. As correctly noted by
Andreev, the evolution to ‘excrement, dung, manure’ is later, and due to a
pejorative connotation.
(120) Dh-Xw (a) ‘a leaf of resinous trees; a needle of coniferous trees;

coniferous needles; to prick, to sting’
Khanty Tu--6r ‘a needle of resinous trees’ (< *DhXw-r-)
Gr. ThO-ós ‘pricky, sharp’ (< *DhXw-ow-)
Skr. Dh,-ra ‘sharp tools’ (< *DhoXw-r-)
Äwenki Du--un ‘a gear, a sharp stick’
Äwenki Dü--in ‘a perforator’
Fin. TuH-ota ‘to destroy, to demolish’
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Lat. FI-go ‘to thrust, to fix (by thrusting)’ (< *DhXw-yg-)
Äwenki D3- ‘to thrust’ (< *DhXw-y-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘inside; to sow, to inseminate, to fecundate; to have
sexual intercourse; a pregnant woman (= inseminated)’
Äwenki D*-l# ‘inside’
Äwenki D*-w- ‘to thrust inside’
Gr. ThO-rnHontai ‘he fecundates’
Äwenki D*-(2 ‘a pregnant woman’
(121) T-K ‘to carve, to cut; adze; a pole’

Skr. TáK-&itum ‘to cut, carve with an adze’ (< *ToK-s-)
Negidal ToK-to- ‘to cut’
O. Norse TheK-sla ‘an adze’ (< *TeK-s-)
Äwenki TuK-awun ‘adze’ (< *TK-xw-)
Gr. TéK-t%n ‘carpenter’
Fin. TuK-ki ‘a log, a piece of (cut) wood’
Oro#i TäK-sä ‘a cut pole’
Fin. TiK-ku ‘a splinter, a chip’
Type Q1 Q2 C3 (C4)
(122) Ghw-Dh ‘to hit the target; to distroy; to damage; to squeeze’

Russ. dial. GoD-ig ‘to hit the target’ (< *GhwoDh-y-)
Khanty WiT-ta ‘to shoot/aim at’ (< *GhweDh-t-)
O. Mong. -oD-uli ‘a hit, kick with the weapon’
Khanty WäT-c6m ‘the point of an weapon’
Oroki XuD-a(ï ‘to destroy by fire; to roast, grill (meat, fish)’ (< *GhwDh-okyy-)
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Gr. PhTh-er% ‘I destroy’ (< *GhwDh-er-)
Lith. GêD-o ‘damaged’ = Gr. PhTh-óros ‘death, destruction’, Gr. Hom.
PhTh-ínei
Skr. KP-áyati ‘he destroys’ (< *GhwDh-oy-)
MHD QVeT-sen ‘to squeeze’
(123) Kw-T ‘a group; a mass of people; many people; to increase the

number of; among many people’
Sl. MeT-a (< *KweT-x-) ‘a group of people or soldiers’
Russ. dial. KóT-urom ‘a lot, many’
Lat. QUoT ‘how many?’
Äwenki KoT-on)o‘a lot, much’
Hitt. KuWaT-ta ‘how much, how many’
Skr. KaTh-aXnu‘many times’ (< KwoT-xw-)
Äwenki KäT-äl- ‘to be more (people), to increase the number of’
Fin. KuT-ea ‘to cast spawn, to spawn’
Äwenki KäT-äs%- ‘to increase number’ (< *KwT-soxw-)
Fin. KuT-oa ‘to tie up with many knots, to weave’
Khanty KüT-n6 ‘among many people’ (< *KwT-nexw-)
(124) D-Ky ‘with/by both hands: to take with both hands; to keep with
both hands, etc.’
Gr. Hom. DéK-sato ‘taken by both hands’
Vedic D#Ç-á- ‘(a) moved by both hands; (b) boatman’
Äwenki DI-kätän ‘palms’ (< *DKy-kwt-)
Gr. -DoK-'kRs ‘taken, seized by both hands’
Fin. TaK-ertua ‘to seize by both hands’
Gr. DóK-ana ‘a bar to be seized by both hands, a railing’
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(125) P-T ‘(moving) up-down, to fly up-down; to fall’

Vedic pa-PT-iva ‘up-down, a fly up-down’
Oroki Pa3-(ïlla ‘to strike with a hammer’
Lat. PeS-sum (< PeT-sum) ‘up-down, on the ground’
Fin. PuT-ous ‘a falldown’
Mansi PaT-ak ‘a fall of a hard, medium-sized object’
Gr. PT-#sthai ‘to fall; to fly’
Khanty PiT-tä ‘to fall’
Gr. pé-PT-*ka ‘(it) rolled down’
Khanty P"T-(a ‘to move down’
Type J1 Q2; see also Example (1).
(126) L-Gh ‘to lie down; to lay down; to go to sleep’

Gothic LiG-an < * LeGh- = German liegen, Eng. lie, lay
Hitt. LaG-aari ‘(he) lies down’
Äwenki LäG-däkan ‘to let down as a sign for a trip’, e.g. a fur on a branch etc.
O. Sl. LoK-iti ‘to lay down, to set, to put’ (< *LoGh-y-)
Est. LôK-s ‘a trap’
Gr. dial. LéKh-etai ‘to go to sleep, to lay down in bed’
Khanty LoKh-khinta ‘to go to sleep, to lay down for sleep’
(127) Y-K ‘to convince, to persuade; to implore, to ask for; to sing’

Skr. Y#C-ati ‘he persuades’ (< *YoK-)
O. Germ. JeH-an ‘to talk, speak’ (< YeK)
Fin. JoK-eltaa ‘to babble, to coo’
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Äwenki JaK-o ‘to speak’
Äwenki Ja-ä ‘to call’
Lith. JaK-smti ‘to shout, yell’
Negid 3K-(in ‘a shout’
Russ. dial. ÍK-ag ‘to shout’
Äwenki IK-a ‘to sing’ (< *YK-exy-)
Osc IúK-leí ‘religious song’
Udegej JäX-ä ‘to sing’ (< *YeK-xy-)
• Cf. Rom. a icni ‘to gasp, to groan’ (usually, a sound expressing pain or effort).
Type J1!Q2!C3!C4
(128) W-P ‘to cast (up); to spill (over); to spread; to have a dispute, to fight’
Skr. UP-ta ‘cast, thrown up’
Hitt. UP-zi ‘to look up; to rise (about sun)’
Est. UP-itama ‘to support, back up’
Skr. VaP-ana- ‘climbing up, elevation’
Oroki UP-kä ‘snowed road, snowbound road’ (< *WP-kexy-)
Skr. VaP-tum ‘spilled over, cast over’
O. Eng. YF-el ‘upset; dangerous’ (< *WP-xyel-); hence modern evil
Est. UP-sakas ‘high’
Äwenki UP-(u ‘to pretend, to claim (up)’
• Cf. Rom. hopa, opa a interjection expressing ‘high, high up; cast up’; often
used when playing with a baby by casting him/her up and down. The forms
are unexplained so far. Initial h may reflect an archaic velar spirant as inherited
from Thracian. To date I do not have another example which may lead to the
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conclusion that PB initial W may result in Thracian h > Rom. h. Cf. a !op"i ‘to
jump as for dancing’; if such a connection is acceptable, then PB velar spirant
may be also reflected by ! in Romanian (usually h and f), which sometimes
corresponds to Albanian th.
(129) W-K ‘to prepare, to make; a tool, an object’

Gothic WaíH-ts ‘object’ (< *WeK-t-)
Ul#i WaK-a)i ‘well done, masterful’
Khanty WaKh-6lta ‘to carve the walls of a house’ (< *WoK-xl-)
Lat. VeC-tis ‘a gear, a bar’
Mansi UK-u ‘a cage (made of plated stuff) for wild birds’
Gr. OK-ladí#s ‘a plated chair’ (< *WoK-l-)
Russ. dial. VeK-o&ki ‘wooden knitting needle’
Oro#i UK-sama ‘made of birch bark’
Russ. dial. VaK-olka ‘fishing tool’
O. Sl. V'P-t6 ‘an object, a thing’ (< *WeK-t-)
Fin. VE-hje ‘an object, a thing; a device’
(130) Y-G ‘ice; to freeze (about a river or lake)’

O. Norse JaK-i ‘ice floe, ice pack’ (< *YoG-n-)
Fin. JäÄ ‘ice’ (< *YeG-xy-)
O. Eng. IC-el ‘ice floe, icicle’
Khanty JÖ-7k ‘ice’ (< *YoG-xyn-)
M. Ir. AIG ‘ice’ (< *YoG-y-)
Khanty JÄ-7kDam ‘soft ice’
Lith. IK-as ‘soft ice’
Russ. dial. IG-núg ‘to freeze’
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Khanty JÖ-8li ‘frost’ (< *YoG-xyl-)
(131) N-Bh (a) ‘a dull day, cloudy day; rain; cloud; to become cloudy’
Gr. NéPh-os ‘dull weather, cloudy day’
Äwenki N#B-e77a ‘dull day, cloudy day’ (< *NBh-xn-)
Skr. NáBh-as ‘cloud, rain’
Äwenki NüB-li ‘to rain in large quantities’
O. Norse NiF-l ‘dark; cloud’ (< *NeBh-l-)
Äwenki N#B-uk#t ‘to become cloudy’ (< *NBh-xw-)
Fin. NaP-ista ‘to murmur’ (< ‘to have a sound like rain’)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to open the gates of rain; to break, to crack; to open’
Vedic NáBh-at' ‘to begin rain; to spring’
Äwenki NäB-d6rkin ‘to break, to crack; to open a blossom’
Est. NuP-pu ‘blossom (in evolution)’
Äwenki NäB-där ‘to open, to appear (about leaves)’
(132) Y-X ‘to hunt; game; to follow; artefacts for hunting, e.g. weapons’
O. Germ. JA-g%n ‘to hunt’ (< *YXo-gh-)
Ul#i JO-sï ‘to hunt seals’
Vedic Y,-van- ‘followed up; hunted for’ (about horses) (< *YoX-w-)
Oroki J,-mga ‘to sneak in (for hunting)’ (< *YeX-m-)
Äwenki Ï-mka ‘to shoot/aim at’ (< *YX-mk-)
Khanty Jö--tilta ‘to shoot with the bow’ (< *YoK-dy-)
Ul#i JA-kta(ï ‘to shoot with the bow’
O. Turkish JA ‘a bow’
Fin. JO-usi ‘a bow’
Äwenki J1-lgä ‘a blow, a shoot (with a weapon)’ (< *YX-wl-)
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(133) N-Xy ‘cannot be; is impossible; to refuse, to reject; to get rid of’
Lat. N0 (< *NeXy-)
Äwenki N’Ö-n’ä ‘it cannot be, is impossible’ (< *NXyo-nxy-)
Äwenki N1-si7i ‘cannot be, is impossible’ (< *NXy-ws-)
Nanaj N’O-mori ‘uncomfortable’ (< *NXyo-m-)
Skr. N,-çáyati ‘(he) refuses’ (< *NeXy-kyy-)
Fin. NyH-tää ‘pluck out weeds; eradicate, pull out’
Derived meaning: ‘to fall; snake; poison’
Äwenki N’O-rma ‘to come on tiptoe with weapons, for attack’
Äwenki NÄ-kä- ‘to fight’
Gr. NE-•kos ‘fight, battle’
O. Ir. NA-thir ‘snake’
Äwenki Ni--ul ‘poison’
(134) M-Xw ‘upper part; head, neck, throat; mane’

O. Norse M‚-na ‘to elevate’ (< *MoXw-ny-)
Alb. MA-jë ‘a peak’
O. Eng. MO-lda ‘head’
Skr. M1-rdhan ‘head’ (< *MXw-ldh-)
Oroki Ma--ï ‘the skin on bear’s head’
Äwenki MO-7okto- ‘skin on the neck or head of a bird’
Skr. MÁ-nya- ‘nape’ (< *MXwo-ny-)
O. Ir. MU-in'l ‘neck’ (< MXw-ny-)
Negid MO-7on ‘neck’
Khanty Mo--6D ‘mane’
Khanty M$--6t ‘hayrick, corn stake’
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• Cf. Rom. archaic forms, presumably of Thracian origin: muie, muian ‘face;
mouth’ (pejorative meaning, including the vulgar, socially taboo usage ‘oral
sex’); and NL Maia, which interferes with maie ‘grandmother’. It is not clear
the relationship with mutr" ‘face’ (colloquial), seemingly related to Basque
mutur ‘face’, which would indicate a Pre-Indo-European origin.
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Type J1-H2-C3(C4)
(125) L-X ‘bright night; a night with moon; moon; to contemplate the
moon; to wait’
Lith. dial. LÓ-p' ‘light’ (< *LoX-p-)
M. Ir. L1-an ‘light; moonlight; moon’ (< *LX-own-)
Lat. L1-x (< *LX-owk-)
Arm. LU-sin ‘moon’ (< *LX-ws-)
Äwenki LO-7)ama ‘moon; moonlight’
Skr. L*-kat' ‘(he) looks at, contemplates’ (< *LX-owk-)
Khanty Li--tä ‘(he) looks at, contemplates’
Gr. LE-uss% ‘I look (at), I see’ (< *LX-ew-)
Khanty Le--6l686Dta ‘to look at’
Khanty Jo--ta ‘to guard, wait (for the hunt)’
Lith. LÁ-ukti ‘to wait’ (< *LX-owk-)
Khanty Ja--D6khs6ta ‘to wait’ (< *LX-lgh-)
Derived meaning: ‘bright, white; snow’
Gr. LA-mpros ‘bright’ (< *LX-mp-)
Gr. LE-ukós ‘white’ (< *LX-ewk-)
Äwenki L,-mus ‘snow’ (< *LeX-m-)
Udegej LA-fula ‘snow’
O. Mong. LA-bsa ‘snowflakes’
• Rom. a lic"ri ‘to glitter, to glow’ and licurici ‘glow!worm’ reflect the
same root, via Thracian.
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(136) Y-Xy (a) ‘young; beautiful; joyful; to gambol, frolic’
Lith. JÁ-unas ‘young’ (< *YXy-wn-)
M. Cymr. IE-u ‘young’ (< *YXy-e-w-)
Gothic J1-niza ‘young’ (< *YXy-wk-)
Doric H0-b# ‘serene youth’ (< *YeXy-gwx-)
Gr. HA-brós ‘glad, joyful’ (< *YXy-gwr-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to frolic, to play; to throw, to cast; to hit, to kick; to
break’
Lat. JA-cere (< *YXy-k-), J0-ci (< *YeXy-k-)
Khanty Jo--titta ‘to throw, cast’
Khanty Jo--6mta ‘to hit, to kick’
Äwenki JA-7u ‘to break by striking’
Äwenki JÄ-n ‘to break’ (< *YeXy-n-)
Ul#i JÄ-pürän ‘to destroy’
• Cf. Rom. iute ‘fast’, iure; ‘rush, race’ (formerly the rush of a battle or
war); usually, the dictionaries do not make the connection between the two
forms, and some assume that iute would be a Slavic influence.
(137) M-X (a) ‘mother; old woman’

Doric M, ‘mother’ (< *MeX)
O. Norse M9-na ‘mother’ (< *MoX-n-)
Fin. MuO-ri ‘mother’ (< *MXo-xwr)
Mansi MA-mu (< *MX-m-)
Nanaj ma-M,-rïsal ‘mother; old woman’
Est. MoO-r ‘old woman’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘wife; to get married’
Est. MÔ-rsja ‘wife’
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Ul#i MA-mala ‘to get married’ (< *MX-m-)
Äwenki MA-7a ‘suitor, wooer’
• Rom. mum" ‘mother’, in mythological terms, e.g. Muma P"durii ‘Mother

of the Forest’ reflects an indigenous Thracian form, with the confirmed
evolution Thr. # > ô/? (as in Dun"re ‘the Danube’ etc.) against mam", of
Latin origin, and Slavic maic". For Thracian, we must start from the form
*m#ma ‘mother’ as confirmed by Andreev’s parallel forms. The meaning in
Romanian reflects the preservation of Thracian forms in specialised
categories, in this case folk mythology.
(138) L-Xw ‘a paw; palm; shovel, oar shovel; to dig’

Khanty Jƒ--6l ‘a paw; palm’
Russ. LA-pa ‘a paw’ (< *LoXw-p-)
Khanty JO-p ‘paw’ (< *LXw-p-)
O. Germ. LA-ffa ‘palm; oar shovel’ (< *LXw-p-)
Khanty LA-mp ‘palm, oar shovel’
O. Ir. L,-ige ‘shovel’
O. Sl. LO-pata (< *LXw-p-) ‘a shovel’
Gr. LA-khaín% ‘I dig’ (< *LXw-gh-)
Äwenki L*-mki ‘to dig, to rummage’ (< *LoXw-m-)
Negid Lo--osïn ‘to dig’ (< *LXw-os-)
• Andreev puts together both Russ. Russ. LA-pa ‘a paw’ (< *LoXw-p-) and
LO-pata (< *LXw-p-) ‘a shovel’. The meaning and form related to this seem
also: Rom. lab" ‘a paw’ and Hung. láb ‘id.’ Traditionally the Romanian form
is considered of Hungarian origin, mainly starting from the erroneous
assumption that an archaic, indigenous element cannot have intervocalic .b-.
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On many occasions I showed that this is not a sustainable hypothesis.
Therefore Rom. lab" may also reflect an indigenous, Thracian heritage.
Further research must clarify the relation between Romanina, Hungarian
and Russian forms with the meaning ‘paw’. The indigenous character of
Rom. lab" seems to be also supported by the usual dog-name L"bu;, without
parallel in the neighbouring languages, with the archaic suffix -u;, as present
especially in the archaic, Pre-Romance place- and river-names.
(139) M-Xy ‘to measure; measurable; big, large; numerous’

Skr. M,-ti ‘(he) measures (< *MoXy-t-)
Est. MôO-tma ‘to measure’
Skr. MI-tá- ‘measurable’ (< *MXy-t-)
Gothic MI-tan ‘to measure’ (< *MXue-d-)
O. Sl. M0-rjf ‘I measure’
Äwenki MÄ-kä ‘big, large’ (< *MoXy-k-)
Vedic M,-hina ‘huge, giant’
Lat. MA-gnus < *MXy-gyn-
Est. MaH-ukas ‘voluminous’ (< *MXy-wk-)
Äwenki MÄ-nli ‘to enlarge, become wider’
Äwenki M0-lta ‘to increase ten times’ (< *MeXy-l-)
Äwenki M0-klï ‘ten in a group of reindeer’
Gothic MA-nags ‘much’ (< MXy-nogh-)
Fin. MO-net ‘many’ (< MXyo-n-)
Yakut MÄ-näk ‘very many animals’ (< *MXy-nexy)
• Rom. mare ‘big, large’ has long been debated if of indigenous Thracian
origin or simply a peculiar evolution of mare ‘sea’ (< Lat. mare, maris).
Linguists still debate on this topic. If of Thracian origin, the proto-form
must have been *mar-, not *m#r-, as Thr. # changes into u in Romanian, via
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an intermediate phoneme ô, sometimes preserved in dialectal forms (against
the more frequent u-forms). These examples do not seem to confirm the
hypothesis that Rom. mare ‘big’ may be of Thracian origin, but rather an
internal evolution of the type ‘sea’ – ‘big, large’.
(140) Y-Xw (a) ‘to mix up; a mix for soup’

Skr. Y,-ti ‘(he) mixes up’
Äwenki J*-n ‘to mix’ (< *YoXw-n-)
Lith. JÓ-ve ‘(he) mixed (it) up’ (< *YoXw-w-)
Oroki JU-rädi ‘to mix up’
Gr. Z*-mRs ‘soup’, i.e. ‘a mixture of many ingredients’ (< *YoXw-m-)
Fin. JuO-ma ‘a drink’ (< *YoXw-m-); also JuO-da ‘to drink’
Mansi JA-ru ‘soup’ (< *YXw-rw-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘a branch, a hook, a pitchfork’ (< ‘tools, objects for
mixing up’)
Khanty Jï--lï ‘a branch, a twig’ (< *YXw-ly-)
Mansi J*-da ‘a hook for the bow’
Gr. Z*-stós ‘to girdle, to surround’
Khanty Jo--r6mt6ta ‘to turn over; to turn to the other side’
Lith. Ju*-si ‘(he) girdled, tied up’
(141) W-X (a) ‘a sheath; vagina; separately; to unfold’

Udegej WA ‘sheath’
Lat. U,-g2na < *WeX-gy-
Oro#i WA-(a ‘a female animal’
Skr. 1-rú- (about women) ‘with beautiful thighs’ (< *WX-rw-)
Lat. U,-rus ‘curved, with curved legs; contrary’
Khanty U--ra8t6ta ‘to unfold’
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(b) Derived meaning: ‘remote; at a certain distance; to call’
Lat. d2-U3-sum < *-WX-ys-
Vedic V0-dhitum ‘to be far from something, someone’ (< *WX-oydh-)
Est. VaH-e ‘distance’
Khanty Wa--ta ‘to call’
O. Sl. VA-biti ‘to call; to entice, to lure’
• Cf. Rom. a (se) v"ita ‘to lament, to call for support’ and Fin. VA-littaa ‘to
lament’; Rom. form may reflect a local development from vai < Lat. vae, yet
the relation with Finnish valittaa would thus remain obscure. They may have
been similar, related forms in both Latin and Thracian which interfered at
colloquial level.
(142) L-Xy ‘to love, beloved; charmful; to take care of’

O. Eng. L0-ofian ‘love’ (< *LXye-wbh-)
Fin. LE-mpi ‘love’ (< *LXye-m-)
Skr. a-L,-&i ‘(she) embraced her lover’ (< *-LeXy-s-)
O. Sl. LA-skati < *LXy-oxs-
Nanaj LÄ-rguar ‘tender, lovingly’
Est. LaH-ke ‘lovingly’
Fin. LE-mpeä ‘loving, affectionate’
Lith. LÊ-po ‘(he) became drowsy, torpid’
Russ. LE-lejag ‘to caress’
Lith. L0-lo{ ‘a doll’
• Cf. Rom. lele ‘an older girl/woman’, closely related in form and
meaning with the Lithuanian form; l"lîu ‘torpid, drowsy; lazy’
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(143) W-Xy ‘to carry/take from one camp to another; to move; to drive
the oxen; to guide a group of hunters from one place to another; to go
through, to pass over’
Skr. a-V,-k&ám ‘(he) went away’ (< *-WoXy-ghys-)
Khanty W#--imtä ‘to bring new force’
Äwenki U--ahin- ‘to drag something heavy’ (< *WXy-oxn-)
Est. VeH-men ‘a shaft (for draggin)’
Skr. 1-hati ‘(he) transports’ (< *WXy-ghy-)
O. Ir. FE-did ‘(he) carries’ (< *WXye-dh-)
Fin. VE-tää ‘to carry’
Lith. VE-lkù ‘I pull, I drag’
Avestan VA-r6k ‘to transport’ (< *WXy-lk-)
Avestan V,-dhuyeiti ‘he carries’
Negid W0-dü- ‘to go for hunt’
O. Sl. VO-z8 ‘vehicle, a cart’
Gr. ÓKh-os ‘a cart’
Lat. VeH-%, vehere, vex2 ‘to carry’; also vehiculum
(144) N-Xw ‘ours; of our tribe or family; offspring of our family;

childish’
O. Sl. NA-m8 ‘to us’ (dative) (< *NoXw-m-)
Skr. N,-u ‘to us’
O. Ir. N,-r ‘with us, at us’
Gr. N* ‘ours’
Solon N*C ‘a child’ (< *NoXw-m-)
O. Mong. Ni--un ‘a child’
Skr. NA-gná- ‘naked child’ (< *NXwo-gwn-)
Derived meaning: ‘withered, weak, lean, slow’
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Gr. N*-khel's ‘withered, weak’
Äwenki N*-m#n ‘slow’
Fin. NaH-jus ‘good-for-nothing, idler’
Negid N’O-mnal- ‘to become weak, powerless’ (< *NXwo-mn-)
Lith. NúO-gai&a ‘weak, lean’
(145) R-Xy ‘to set, put signs or tokens; to arrange; to group together; to
reckon; to rule; much, abundant(ly)’
Lat. R0-g%, R0-gLre, R0-xi ‘to rule, to master over’ (< *ReXy-gy-); R0-gula ‘a
ruler; a set square’
Skr. R,-jati ‘(he) sets right, arranges’
Fin. RyH-mittää ‘to group together’
Gothic RA-hnjan = German rechnen ‘to reckon’ (< *RXy-k-)
Skr. R,-y- ‘richness’
Est. RoH-kus ‘richness’
Derived meaning: ‘to call (for order); to shout’
Solon o-R’0 ‘to call’
Lith. R0-kti ‘to shout’
Äwenki o-R0- ‘to shout’
Skr. R,-uti ‘(he) shouts’
(146) W-Xw (a) ‘a wound, to wound; to thrust, to penetrate; to scratch’

Latvian V,-ts ‘a wound’ (< WoXw-t-)
Cymric GW-eli ‘a wound’ (< *WXw-ely-)
Skr. 1-&ati ‘wounded’ (< *WXw-s-)
Gr. *-thé% ‘I thrust’ (< *WoXw-dh-)
Khanty Wa--6lt6ta ‘to kill a bear’
Est. UH-tuma ‘to strike, to beat, to kick’
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Äwenki U--u- ‘to get a sting, to prick’
Negid Ö--ä- ‘to get a sting, to prick’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘blood, sanguine; a vein’
O. Ir. FU-il ‘blood’ (< *WXw-oly-)
Äwenki U- ‘a vein’
Farsi V,-l#na- ‘a bleeding wound’
Type J1-J2
(147) W-Y ‘a bush; trees; branches; to become green; fruit’

Fin. ViL-dakko ‘a bush’
Khanty WI-r6s ‘a group of birch-trees or poplars’
O. Norse VI-dhr ‘a bush; grove’
O. Eng. WI-du ‘wood’
Lat. UI-rga ‘a rod’
Est. VI-ts ‘a vine branch; a rod’
Fin. VI-hreä ‘green’
Lat. UI-rere ‘to turn green’
Lith. Va„-sius ‘a fruit’ (< *WoY-s-)
(148) N-M ‘to take, to snatch; to add; to distribute equally; to eat

distributed food’
Gothic NiM-an (< *NeM-) = Germ. nehmen
Äwenki NoM-kït ‘to shoot with the bow’
O. Mong. NuM-un ‘bow’
Latvian …eM-t ‘to take’ (= Germ. nehmen)
Skr. NaN-da ‘satiation, sufficient provide’ (< *NeM-d-)
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O. Mong. NeM-e ‘to get’
Oroki NaM-at(ï- ‘to load’
Äwenki NaM-äla ‘to load’
Gr. NoM-ádos ‘one who uses a grassland; one who errs from one place
to another’
Gr. NoM-ós ‘pasture, grassland’
Oroki NüM-gä ‘to swallow’
Gr. NeM-ónt%n ‘distributing, sharing in equal parts’
Äwenki NeM-adivut ‘to share game among all the inhabitants of the village’
(149) R-Y ‘to have a nomad life; to horse; to use the boat or sledge; to go
up, climb’
Äwenki ö-RÏ-n (< *RY-n- with a protetic vowel) ‘to migrate’
Äwenki ü-RI-l# ‘to move to another place’
Med. Ir. R3a-dim ‘I go, drive a vehicle’ (< *ReY-dh-)
Khanty RI-t ‘a boat’
Lith. RáI-(iotis ‘to roll (over)’ (< *RoY-t-)
Lith. RIe-dmti ‘to roll over’ (< *ReY-dh-)
O. Germ. R3-tan ‘to drive a vehicle, to ride’ (= Eng. ride)
Fin. RiI-mu ‘a halter (of a horse)’
Lith. RI-snóti ‘to trot, to move, go at a slight trot (about horses)’
• Cf. Rom. a r"t"ci ‘to err, to lose one’s way’ < ? Lat. *erraticare or
indigenous Thracian to be included in this category? I am rather inclined for
a Thracian origin, proto-form *r"t-"c- related, in form and meaning, to
English ride and Old German r2tan.
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(150) M-N (a) ‘man; thinking, understanding, broad-minded; to
remember, to remind; memory’
Skr. MáN-u- ‘man’
Gothic MaN-na = Eng. man, Germ. Mann
O. Sl. Mo(N)-<" ‘man, male, husband’
Skr. MáN-as ‘mind, understanding’
O. Turkic Me:-ä ‘a human brain’ (< *MeN-g-)
Skr. MáN-yat' ‘he thinks’
Äwenki MüN-da ‘to prove imagination, to think’
Skr. ma-MN-' ‘he thought’
Est. MeeN-utama ‘to remember’
Lith. MiN-mti ‘to remember’ (< *MN-exy-)
Khanty MaN’-t’6mtta ‘to tell a tale’
Gr. MN-mm' ‘memory; remembrance’
O. Icelandic MeN-nskr ‘human; reasonable’
Nenets MeN-ekad ‘man leading a settled life’
O. Eng. MyN-de ‘mind, thinking, memory’
O. Mong. MaN-glai ‘forehead’ (< *M-+ N-ghl-)
Nenets MaN-†’ ‘to say, to think over, to ponder over’
Korean MoN-((a(hida ‘sly, cunning’
Russ. po-MN-it’ ‘to remember, to keep in mind’
Nenets MïN-eko (a) ‘narrator of folk tales; character on behalf of whom
the tale is being narrated’
O. Turk. Me:-kü qaja ‘tombstone with letters, rock of memory’
Hung. MoN-da ‘tale, legend’
Saami M#iN-as ‘tale, folk-tale, fairy-tale’
Hung. MoN-dani ‘to tell, to say’
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Saami M#iN-s’e ‘to tell a tale, to tell, to talk’
(b) Derived, antonymous meaning: ‘(with) poor memory, unreasonable, to err’
Korean Mä:-(hu ‘suffering with a poor memory, brainless (pejorative)
Gr. MaN-ía ‘madness, insanity’
O. Turk. MuN-qul ‘devoid of reason, unreasonable, stupid’
O. Turk. MuN-dus ‘stupid, foolish’
Äwenki Mo:-non ‘fool, stupid, idiot’
Korean M$N-(h$7i ‘fool, idiot, short-witted’
O. Mong. MeN-ere- ‘to become foolish’
O. Mong. MeN-gde- ‘to be taken aback, to lose one’s head’
Khanty Mü:-6rkholta ‘to faint away, to lose consciousness’
O. Turk. MuN- ‘to err, to grow feeble-minded’
Korean MoN-nada ‘stupid, foolish, weak-headed’
Note 1. Old Slavic nasal vowels may either reflect the ablaut vowel + IE
*n or IE *m. The subroutine is to check each Old Slavic nasal vowel as a
possible correspondence to Boreal N or M between the preceding syllabeme
and the following obstruent.
Note 2. The transition from Old Slavic na-(in-f ‘I (shall) begin’ and
O. Slavic is-kon-i ‘from the very beginning’ to O. Slavic kon-"c" ‘limit, end’
shows that one and the same root may develop antonymous meanings in the
course of historical evolution. Subroutine: check not only the evolution and
a given semantic field, but also its possibly antonymous meaning. Lat. altus,
with the current meaning ‘high’, also had the archaic meaning ‘deep’, i.e.
‘high’ or ‘deep’ as referred to the speaker’s position.
(151) R-W (a) ‘an open place; to open; to perforate, to make a hole’
Avestan RaV-ah- ‘(open) place’
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Äwenki a-Ro-gon ‘a flat open place’ (without trees) (< *RW-g-)
Gr. eu-RY ‘comprehensive, wide, large’
Gothic R1-ms ‘open, wide’ (< *RW-xym)
Tokharic RU- ‘to open’
Finnish RaO-ttaa ‘to open slightly’
Khanty RU-kh6t6ta ‘to make a hole’
Derived meaning: (b) ‘to clear land of trees, to hoe, to uproot; to uncover,
to dig (out), to rout’
O. Norse RE-djha ‘to clear of trees’
Lith. RaV-'ti ‘to hoe’
Slavic RÚ-jem ‘I uproot’
Solon o-R9- ‘to uproot’ (< *RW-xy-)
Russ. dial. i-RV-ag ‘to dig out’
Äwenki a-RU-n ‘to cast the offspring, the baby; to cub’
Vedic ru-RU-v' ‘to break’
Lith. RaU-sHti ‘to dig out’
Khanty RÜ-86mtä ‘to rout’
• Rom. a r"v";i ‘to rummage, to turn upside down’ seems to reflect the
same root, via Thracian.
(152) M-Y ‘to tramp about, to move from one place to another; to change’
Skr. MaY-ati ‘he tramps about’
Mansi MI-)ura ‘to tramp, to change the place’
Äwenki MI-(i- ‘to move’
Lat. ME-% ‘to pass from one place to another’ (< *MeY)
Ul#i MI-kä(i ‘to lose one’s way’
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Äwenki MïJ-a ‘to get lost’
Äwenki MüJ-ä ‘to get to a place’
Est. MuJ-al ‘somewhere else, not here’
Khanty MƒJ-DiDta ‘to pay a visit, to visit’
Lat. MI-gr%, -#re ‘to migrate’
Skr. MáY-at' ‘he changes’
O. Sl. M‡{-na ‘change’ (< *MoY-n-)
(153) W-R (a) ‘root; covered, to cover; concealed, to conceal; to guard,

to protect’
Gothic WaúR-ts ‘root’
Cymric GwR-eiddyn ‘root’ (< *WR-xed-)
Skr. api-VY-7%ti ‘he covers, conceals’
Fin. VeR-ho ‘a curtain, a cloak, a cover’ = Est. VaR-ja
Russ. dial. VeR-ág ‘to conceal’
(b) In all the three PB branches there also is a derived meaning ‘male’ =
‘the guard, protector of the flock or group’:
Skr. VY-&a7a ‘male’
Äwenki UR ‘male’
Fin. UR-os ‘male’, Hung. ÚR ‘man, gentleman’
O. Saxon WR-'nio ‘a stallion’
Lat. UeR-uex
Oro#i UR-ï(a ‘a two-year old male-elk’
(154) Y-W ‘of your descent; according to ancient rules; to instruct; to pay
attention to rules; one who understands’
Alb. JU-ve ‘to you’ (‘to ye’ 2nd pers. pl.)
Skr. Y1-yám ‘ye’
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O. Lat. IoU-s (J?S) ‘law’
Est. JU-his ‘law’
O. Turkic JU-sun ‘law; a custom’
Fin. JU-listaa ‘to proclaim, to announce in a solemn way’
Skr. J*-ni ‘a place of law’ (< *YoW-ny-)
O. Turkic JU-ndur ‘to set laws’
Est. JU-hatama ‘to show, to indicate by hand’
O. Turkic JU-nur&- ‘a charge, a duty, a mission’
Negidal JaW-xï- ‘to pay attention’
Khanty JU-rkh67 ‘able to, skilful’
(155) M-L ‘in small pieces; to grind, to turn into small pieces; hammer’
Äwenki MäL-läs ‘in small pieces’
Hitt. MaaL-lai ‘(he) grinds’
O. Germanic MuL-jan ‘he grinds’
Est. MäL-etsema ‘to stir, to mix up’
Nanaj MoL-)o ‘in small pieces’
Ul#i MaL-aka ‘a knife’
O. Norse MöL-va ‘to crumb’
Solon MaL-ˆ ‘a hammer’
Lat. MaL-leus ‘a hammer’ (hence, among others, Rom. mai)
Udegej Mü‰-äw ‘a hammer’
O. Sl. ML-atiti ‘to grind’
Est. MaL-gutama ‘to hammer’
• Cf. Rom. m"lai ‘maize flour’ (initially millet flour); seemingly related,
by reduplication (< *mal-mal-ig-), m"m"lig" ‘polenta’ (a specific maize
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bread); initially, the m"m"liga and polenta were made from millet grains.
Alternatively, Rom. m"m"lig" may be of Pre!Indo!European origin.
(156) L-N ‘thigh; haunch; calf of the leg; bosom; loins; sacrum’
O. Norse LeN-d “thigh’
O. Germanic LeN-t2n ‘loins’
Fin. LaN-ne ‘thigh; haunch’
Fin. LoN-kka ‘haunch’
O. Sl. LoN-o ‘bosom; breast’
Lat. LuM-bus ‘loins; sacrum’ (< *LoN-bh-)
Khanty La:-kh6t ‘backbone’
O. Sl. LŠ-dvijB ‘loins; thigh’
Derived meaning: ‘leg; foot, sole; lame’
Russ. dial. ‰A-ga ‘thigh; leg’ (< *LeN-gw-)
Skr. LaÑ-ja- ‘a sole’
Khanty LaM-p ‘a sole’ (< *LN-p)
Khanty Jo:-k- ‘hoof’
Skr. La:-ga ‘lame’
Est. LoN-kama ‘to limp; to be lame’
(157) N-Y (a) ‘to carry or bring to himself; a leader, a master; to guide; war’
Skr. N3-tha ‘leader (in a battle)’ < *NY-xt-
Hitt. N#I- ‘to carry, to guide’
Skr. N0-tr- ‘a hero, a warrior’ (< *NoY-tr-)
O. Germanic N3-d ‘a battle’ (< *NY-xt-)
Mansi NI-&ala ‘to beat forcibly’
M. Ir. N3-a ‘war’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to have offspring; a female with offspring; nest’
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Skr. NáY-at' ‘(he) takes to himself; he gets married’
Fin. NaI-ttaa ‘to get married’
Khanty NI ‘a female; wife, woman’
Vedic N3-la ‘nest’
Arm. NI-st ‘nest’
Solon NI-t(ä ‘to hatch, to brood’
(158) W-L (a) ‘hair; fur; animals with fur’

O. Russ. VoL-od6‘hair’
Äwenki UL-bär ‘curly, pleated’
Skr. V#L-a- ‘hair’
Äwenki UL-2ki ‘a squirrel’
Lat. UoL-pes ‘a fox’
Nanaj UL-gi ‘Siberian squirrel; burunduk’
Avestan VaR-6n# ‘fur’ (< *WL-xn-)
Fin. ViL-la ‘fur’
Gothic ‘WuL-fs ‘wolf’
Äwenki UL-ä ‘wolf’
(b) Derived meaning from the association ‘fox’ = ‘sly’: a cheat; a lie;
false, wrong deed, action etc.’
M. Ir. FeL-l ‘a cheat’ (< *WeL-s-)
Äwenki UL-ak ‘a cheat, a lie’
Fin. VaL-he ‘a lie’
Khanty W"J-a8 ‘crooked; wrong’
Gr. 1L-os ‘crooked; curved’ (< *wo-WL-)
(159) S-M ‘grease, fat, lard; to oil, to lubricate’
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Gothic SM-aírthr ‘grease, fat’
OHD (AHD) SM-alz ‘melted grease’
Khanty Sa:-m6ttata ‘to melt grease’ (< *SM-g-)
Ul#i SiM-sä ‘fat, suet, butter’
Nenets S’aN-†’o ‘melted fat, grease, lard’ (< *S’aM-ds’o < *S-+ M-dky-)
O. Icelandic SM-jfr ‘fat, suet, butter’
O. Mong. SeM-e)i ‘epiploon, abdominal fat’
Mansi SäM-sü ‘epiploon (fat covering stomach and guts)’
Khanty SA-n6l ‘epiploon’ (< *Sl-n–+ l)
O. Turkic SeM-iz ‘greasy, fatty’
O. Turkic SeM-ri- ‘to become fat’
Nanai (Goldi) SiM-ü(i ‘to oil, to grease’
Gr. SM-á% ‘I smear’
Mansi SiM-# ‘to get greasy, to get dirty’
Korean SaM-tta ‘to cook (using fat)’
Manchu SüM-üsü ‘soup, cooked with fat’
Fin. SieM-aista ‘to swallow a mouthful of soup or any other liquid; to gulp
down’
Korean SaM-khida ‘to swallow, to gulp down’
Manchu SiM-i ‘to gulp down, to suck down’
O. Mong. SiM-e- ‘to suck, to suck dry, to lick around’
Note. In Greek, Indo-Iranian and Khanty both M and N were vocalized

between obstruents, when the accented syllabeme was after the third
consonant, i.e. vocalized in the structural types C1:2C3-C4 and C1;2C3-
C4. Subroutine: to check any Greek, Indo-Iranian and Khanty A (,, y) in the
second position, there is the possibility of an initial M or N.
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Note 2. In Indo-Iranian and in Samoede languages, M – when after a
syllabeme and immediately before a dental – becomes N.
Note 3. In Greek, Sanskrit, Khanty, Germanic, Turkic and Tungus-
Manchu languages it was possible that primary M be changed to : or N
before K or G/Gh.
(160) X-W (a) ‘new comer; a stranger; enstranged; someone else,

another one’
Äwenki HU-ntükä ‘a stranger’
Lat. AU-fugi% ‘to fly away from’ (< *XeW-bhw-)
Oro#i XO-nto ‘a stranger’ (< *XW-nt-)
Gr. AU-tít's < ‘living alone’ (< *XeW-kwy-)
Äwenki H1-nt6 ‘a stranger’
Vedic *-ga7á- ‘a persecuted, poor person’ (< *XeW-g-)
Udegej XO-7to ‘another, stranger’ (< *XW-ng-)
Lat. AU-tem ‘on the other hand’ (< *XeW-t-)
Gr. A1-ge (< *XeW-g-) = Lat. AU-tem
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to work, worker; industrious; to assist; to create,
to forge’
Negidal XaW-#dakta ‘to work’ (< *XW-exd-)
Fin. UU-ttera ‘industrious, hard working’ (< *XW-xd-)
Äwenki HaW-#d2 ‘industrious’ (< *XW-exd-)
Fin. AU-ttaa ‘to help, to assist’ (< *XeW-xd-)
Äwenki HaW-aktar# ‘industrious’
Fin. AV-ustaa ‘to assist’
Gr. -U-rgé% ‘I work’ (< *-XoW-r-)
Fin. UU-ras ‘preoccupied’ (< *XW-r-)
Äwenki HaW-alma ‘industrious’
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Lat. HaU-ri%, HaU-s2 ‘to put out; to exhaust’
O. Norse AU-sa ‘to help, to assist’ (< XoW-s-)
Äwenki HaW-kän- ‘to help’
Lith. AU-d' ‘she knit’ (< *XoW-d-)
• Cf. Rom. hotar ‘a fronteer’, a hot"rî ‘to decide’. The word is currently
explained from Hung. határ ‘id.’, though the word is otherwise unexplained
in Hungarian. I am rather inclined for an archaic origin of the Romanian
forms, and for a Romanian borrowing in Hungarian, disregarding the
ultimate etymon of root hotár!, hot#r!î$ .
(161) Xy-Ni (a) ‘life; entrails, viscera; the fat beneath the skin; limbs’
Lat. IN-guen ‘groin, inguinal region; in Horace, genital organ’ (< *XyeN-gw-)
Lith. IN-kstas ‘blossom’ (< *XyN-ks-)
Ul#i Xä:-gi ‘loins’
Äwenki Ä:-#jä ‘loins’
Gr. ÉN-teron ‘belly, viscera’ (< *XyeN-t-)
Khanty ON-t ‘entrails’ (< *XyoN-txw-)
O. Norse 3-str ‘visceral fat’ (< *XyeN-st-)
O. Prussian IN-stran ‘grease, fat’ (< *XyeN-st-)
Äwenki ÄN-ä8in ‘subcutaneous fat’ (< *XyN-exy-)
Est. HaN-guma ‘to coagulate (about grease or fat)’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘in the middle of, between; ice-hole; a pass, a
narrow pass’
Lat. IN-ter < *XyeN-t-
Gr. EN-í ‘in, between’ (< *XyeN-y-)
Äwenki Hä:-kä ‘ice-hole; a piece of land where snow melts’
Äwenki HäN’-ä ‘a pass’ (< *XyeN-y-)
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Type H1-J2
(162) X-M ‘in mother’s belly; to suckle, to nurse; natural growth of

family group; pair, parents’
Est. EM-aihus ‘in mother’s belly’ (< *XeM-x-)
Ul#i XäM-dä ‘life’
Fin. EM-ä ‘mother, female’ (< *XeM-xy-)
Äwenki ÄM-känäk ‘a pregnant woman’s belly’ (< *XM-ken-)
Udegej ÄM-üsi ‘to rock the cradle’
Est. AM-m ‘a nurse’
Fin. IM-ettää ‘to nurse’
Est. IM-ik ‘a baby’ (< *XM-xyg-)
Khanty ÄM-68t6ta ‘to suck’
Yakut ÄM- ‘to suck’
Yakut IaM ‘the time of sexual intercourse; the time of spawning’
Äwenki HaM-ut ‘to have sexual intercourse’
Gr. ÁM-ph% ‘both’ (< *XeM-bhxw-)
Vedic AM-# ‘together with’
Derived meaning: ‘dark, in the dark, darkness’
Gr. AM-olgós ‘dark’ (< *XM-ol-)
Gr. dial. AM-orbós ‘dark’ (< *XM-or-)
Mansi XäM-ki ‘to walk by touching objects’; see also no. (3) T-M
Est. HäM-arik ‘half-dark’
Oroki XüM-äsikä ‘soot’
Fin. HiM-metä ‘to get dark’
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• Cf. Rom. dial. im" ‘mother’; it is preserved together with mum"
‘mother’ (both from Thracian), and mam" ‘mother’ (< Latin) and maic" from
Slavic. The initial meaning of im" must have been ‘pregnant woman’.
(163) Xy-W ‘to go home; shelter, house, home; comfortable’

Nanaj ÄW-gi- ‘to go to the shore, to go home’ (< *XyW-g-)
Skr. *-ka ‘shelter, home’ (< *XyeW-k-)
Hitt. HU-i& ‘to live’ (< *XyW-es-)
Fin. HU-one ‘a home; a room’ (< *XyW-on-)
Äwenki HäW-ä- ‘a hut, a tent’
Äwenki HäW-är- ‘to raise a tent’
Skr. AV-itum ‘to shelter (against bad weather)’
Lith. JaU-kmti ‘to make himself comfortable’ (< *XyeW-k-)
Est. HU-bane ‘comfortable’
Äwenki HäW-da- ‘to sit down; to put one’s legs under’
(164) Xw-L (a) ‘over the river; on the other side; on the outside; a belt’
Khanty UL-ti ‘over the river’ (< *Xw-L-)
Lat. UL-s = ultra; < *Xw-L-os-
O. Ir. -OL-l ‘on the other side’ (< *-XwL-n-)
Fin. UL-ko ‘foreign’; UL-os ‘out, outside’ < *XwL-os
Cymr. AL-lan ‘from the outside’
Nanaj XaL-a ‘external belt’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘curved; elbow; knee; a turn’
Lat. AL-gae ‘alga’
Lith. AL-k?no ‘elbow; knee; a part of the body which may bend’
Arm. OL-okh ‘shank’ (< *XwL-ok-)
Äwenki AL-as ‘(a deer) shank’
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Äwenki OL-d%n ‘thigh, haunch’
Oroki XoL-do ‘part, side’
Nanaj XoL-i7ko ‘a pass-by, a bent road’
Fin. HoL-vi ‘a vault’
(165) X-R (a) ‘brave; good, deft; heartful; due’

Skr. ,R-yaka- ‘brave’ (< *xe-XR-y-)
Fin. HuR-ja ‘wild’
Mansi AR-(a- ‘to go to meet an animal’ (< *XR-ky-)
Gr. ÁR-istos ‘excellent; the best’ (< *XeR-y-)
Fin. UR-ho ‘hero, brave fighter’ (< *XR-xw-)
Äwenki ÄR-nin- ‘to walk in front of the group (of fighters)’ (< *XR-ny-)
Nanaj ÄR-da ‘skilful’
Est. HaR-rastama ‘to be very curious about something’
Fin. HaR-taus ‘heartful spirit’
Hitt. HaR-ap- ‘to be due’
Gr. ár-AR-a ‘good’ (< *xre-XR-x-)
Avestan ARw-m ‘due, adequate’ (< *XR-m-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘cuffs; tied to something, a tie; net’
M. Ir. ,RA-ch ‘cuffs; tied to’ (< *XR-yg-)
Äwenki HäR-kü(ä ‘to be tied to’
Nanaj XäR-kä- ‘to tie, to put handcuffs’
Fin. HaR-sia ‘to baste’
Gr. ÁR-kys ‘net’
Mansi XäR-gin ‘the margin of a fishnet’
• Cf. Rom. harnic ‘industrious; heartful’; DEX refers to Sl. *harn.
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(166) Xy-L (a) ‘upwards; to stand up; to sweep away’

Äwenki EL- ‘to stand up’ (< *XyeL-)
Arm. EL-anem ‘I stand up’
Khanty IJ-m68t6ta ‘to stand up’ (< *XyL-mxw-)
Khanty EL-68t6tä ‘to stand up’ (< *XyeL-x-)
Gr. i-ÁL-l% ‘I release the arrow from the bow’ (< *-XyL-y-)
Khanty ÄL-6mtä ‘to raise’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to make a fire; flame; embers, glow’
Äwenki EL-a- ‘to make the fire’ (< *XyeL-x-)
Mansi UL-dä- ‘(the fire) raises up’
Nanaj XüL-pü- ‘to burn’ (< *XyL-p-)
Udegej IL-a- ‘to cast into the fire’
Skr. AR-u&á- ‘flame’ (< *XyoL-ws-)
Äwenki UL-di ‘flame’
Mansi J%L-o7gï ‘embers’
Ul#i XüL-dü ‘burning’ (< *XyL-dw-)
Fin. HeL-le ‘unbearable heat’
Nanaj XüL-ün ‘heat, hot weather’ (< *XyL-wn-)
(167) Xw-M ‘male force, male power; power, force; to strain, to make a
(male) effort’
Avestan AM-a ‘male power’ (< *XwoM-x-)
Khanty 5M-at ‘power’ (< *XwM-xet-)
Äwenki OM-olgï ‘young man’ (< *XwM-olgh-)
Vedic AM-a- ‘power’
Skr. AM-íti ‘he strains’ (< *XwoM-xy-)
Äwenki HoM-%tï, HüM-#j ‘bear’
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Skr. ÁM-av#n- ‘powerful’
Lith. ÁM-<inas ‘eternal’ (< *XwoM-gyn-)
Alb. AM-ëshuar ‘eternal’
Gr. ÓM-nymi, om-*M-ok# ‘I swore’
Isl. AM-stra ‘to make an effort’
Fin. HoM-ma ‘(hard) job, work’, HoM-mata ‘to get (by effort)’
(168) X-N (a) ‘man, male; powerful; the leader of the group, the one who
goes first; manhood’
Vedic AN-u- ‘man, powerful’ (< *XeN-w-)
Fin. HeN-oa ‘be powerful, to in force’
Gr. AN-'r ‘man’ (< *XN-exyr-)
Äwenki H}N-as ‘manhood’
Fin. AN-kara ‘severe, stern’ (< XN-kr-)
Doric ag-,N-%r ‘manly, brave’ (< *e-XN-)
Lycian XN-tamata ‘a leader = the one who goes first’
Fin. EN-si ‘first’
Hitt. HaaN-ti ‘the first one, the one in front’
Gr. AN-ta ‘in front of, face to face’ (< *XN-tx-)
Äwenki H#N-kï ‘against’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘the second one out of two; a comrade, a friend’
Skr. ÁN-tara ‘the second out of two’
Äwenki AN-da ‘comrade, friend’
Avestan AN-ya- ‘the second one’
Äwenki Hä:-ä ‘friend, comrade’ (< *XeN-g-)
Äwenki A:-ïlï ‘the other one, the second one’
Oroki Ha:-n' ‘the other side’
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(169) Xy-M ‘one alone; to make something alone; his/her proper; me; to
take/consider himself/herself’
Udegej ÄM-üs’ä ‘by oneself’ (< *XyM-ws-)
Negidal ÄM-äk(än ‘one only, one alone’
Solon EM-ke ‘alone, by himself’
Udegej OM-os’o ‘alone only’ (< *XyoM-xw-)
Mansi ÄM-xülä ‘to do, accomplish by himself’ (< *XyM-xw-)
Skr. AM-a ‘himself’ (< *XyoM-x-)
Est. OM-a ‘himself, to him proper’ (< *XyoM-x-)
M. Mong. HiM ‘a sign of property, mark’ (< *XyeM-)
Äwenki HiM-nä- ‘to make a sign’
Alb. IM-e ‘mine (feminine)’ (< *XyM-xy-)
Est. M-inu = Fin. M-inun ‘my, mine’ (< *XyM-yn-)
Dor. EM-ín ‘me’ (Acc., < *XyeM-xyy-)
Hitt. AM-muk ‘me’ (Acc., < *XyM-wk-)
Lat. EM-% ‘to buy; to get for himself’
O. Sl. JeM-ljf ‘I carry’ (< *XyeM-y-)
Type H1-J2
(170) X-Y ‘to attack the enemy, bellicose fury; terrible; to cast the spear;
to shoot with the bow’; the root initially referred to hunting and fighting in
the forest.
Gr. ep-AI-gíz% ‘I attack the enemy’ (< *-XY-gy-)
O. Sl. OJ-6min8 ‘fight’
Fin. HeI-ttätyä ‘to cast, to throw’
Mansi AJ-a ‘to go, walk fast’
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Gr. OÍ-mesa ‘to prey, swoop upon’ (with Ablaut)
Fin. HaJ-otaa ‘to disperse, to scatter (the group)’
Gr. OI-stros ‘fury’
Fin. HäI-jy ‘wild, evil, wicked’
Nanaj AJ-akta ‘wild, wicked’
O. Turk. AJ-ï8 ‘wicked, wild’
Äwenki HäJ-ä ‘an evil spirit on horse roving in the mountains’
Est. HeI-tma ‘to cast the spear’
Negidal AJ-ana- ‘to set the target’
Attic OI-stós ‘shooting’
Yakut AJ-a ‘shooting, hitting’
(171) Xw-W (a) ‘harsh wind, snowstorm; frost’

Äwenki HU-8un ‘snowstorm’ (< *XwW-xww-)
Mong. XU-)imäda ‘(about wind:) to blow terribly with
whistles’ (< *XwW-ghyy-)
Solon 1-82 C ‘snowstorm”
Lith. ÁU-dra ‘tempest’ (< XwoW-dhr-)
Gr. ÁW-(si ‘(wind) blows’ (< *XwW-exy-)
Lith. AU-&'ti ‘to get cold’
Khanty Ü-lk6ltä ‘to get cold, to freeze’ (< *XwW-xyl-)
Äwenki HU-wän ‘hoar frost, rime’ (< *XwW-wen-)
Avestan AO-ta- ‘cold’ (< *XwoW-t-)
M. Ir. 1A-r ‘cold’ (< *XwoW-ghr-)
Khanty Ü-l67 ‘cold’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘clothes, to dress, to put footwear on’
Äwenki HU-8itä, HÜ-lti ‘clothes’
Khanty U-( ‘clothes’
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Arm. AG-anim ‘I put clothes on’ (< *XwW-xn-)
Lith. A1-klo ‘shoelace’
Lith. ,V-jo ‘to put footwear on’
(172) Xy-Y ‘to walk; to go in, to enter; to flow (about a river)’

Hom. E3-mi ‘I walk’
Oroki 3- ‘to go in, to step in’ (< *XyY-)
Fin. HiI-htää ‘to ski’
Lith. E3-din' ‘amble’, i.e. a specific way of walking of horses (< *XyeY-d-)
Gr. OÍ-kho-mai ‘to go; to come’ (< *XyoY-gh-)
O. Mong. AJ-an ‘a path’ (< *XyY-xn-)
Udegej 3-gi ‘to get to, to reach’
Khanty OJ-68t686Dta ‘to walk’
Äwenki 3-nä- ‘to fall (about rivers)’
Negidal 3-8än ‘water-flow’ (< *XyY-xen-)
Nanaj HäJ-ä ‘to flow’
O. Turk. IJ- ‘to follow’
(173) S-N (a) ‘old; weak’

O. Ir. SeN ‘old’
O. Turk. SöN ‘old’ (< *SoN-y-)
Khanty PoM-t6 ‘weakened’ (< *SoN-pt-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘out of order; to mend; to patch, to dam; thread;
needle’
Äwenki Sa:-#gdä ‘worn out, tattered, ragged’ (< *SN-ghex)
Nanaj Sa:-na ‘to mend, to patch’
Khanty SÄ-t68lantä ‘to patch, to sew’ (< *SN-dhexy-)
Äwenki Sa:-#n ‘to sew’
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Avestan SN-#van ‘thread (for sewing)’
O. Ir. SN-#the ‘thread’
Äwenki SaN-mi ‘to put thread in the needle’
O. Ir. SN-#that ‘needle’
Nanaj SoN-oko ‘thimble’ = Äwenki SaN-l#7kïs
(174) Xw-Y (a) ‘limb; membrum virile; to have sexual intercourse;

testicles; sensuality’
Udegej I-likä ‘limb’ (< *XwY-ly-)
Gr. OÍ-ph% ‘I have sexual intercourse’ (< *XwoY-bh-)
Mansi ÄJ-gän- ‘man, husband’
Ul#i OJ-ï ‘male trousers’
Ul#i Ï-nïkta ‘testicles’
Est. HI-mu ‘sensuality, sexual appetite’
Gr. OÍ-d'sis ‘swelling’
Fin. HuI-ma ‘unrefrained, impetuous’
Fin. HI-mo ‘passion’
(b) Derived meaning, via ‘unpaired – unique, one, alone’
O. Lat. OI-no(m) ‘one’ (< *XwoY-n-)
Gr. O3-os ‘one; alone’
Khanty wJ-ätil6w ‘unique’ (< *XwY-et-)
Fin. AI-noa ‘unique, one’
O. Pers. AI-va ‘one’
Fin. HeI-käläinen ‘one of them’
Skr. ‹-ka ‘one’
(175) Xw-N (a) ‘dark night, night without moon; dark; prey-bird; claws’
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Corn. HaN-eth ‘in the night’ (adverb; < *XwN-et-)
Äwenki Ha:-r6 ‘dark, black’ (< *XwN-ghr-)
Gr. N-Hks ‘night’ (< *XwN-kwt-)
Lith. AN-ksti ‘very early in the morning when still dark’ (< *XwoN-k-)
O. Sl. N-opotyr6 ‘night prey-bird’ (< *XwN-opt-)
Äwenki IN-tilgun ‘owl’ (< *XweN-ty-)
Gr. ÓN-yks ‘claw’ (< *XwoN-w-)
Skr. A:-ghri ‘paw’
Lat. UN-guis ‘claw; nail’ (< *XwoN-gw-)
Khanty O:-t6w ‘thorn; claw’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘dream; sleep, to fall asleep’
Arm. AN-ur_ ‘dream’ (< *XwN-oxwr-)
Gr. Ón-ar ‘dream, sleep’
Fin. UN-i ‘sleep’
Nanaj O:-gasa ‘to fall asleep’
(176) S-K ‘to fell a tree; to split, to chop; axe’

Udegej SiK-ti- ‘to fell a tree’
Lat. SeC-% ‘to cut; to engrave’
Äwenki SüK-ä ‘to cut with an axe’
Est. SaG-ama ‘to hash, to mince’ (< *SK-xm-)
O. Ir. 'i-SC-id ‘he cuts off’
Ul#i SaK-pï ‘axe’ (< *SoK-px-)
O. Russ. SoK-yra, OCS SeK-yra ‘axe, hatchet’
(177) X-P (a) ‘the last one, last, the one who walks last; descendant,
successor, heir, offspring’
Skr. ÁP-ara- ‘the last (one)’
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Gr. ÁP-s ‘in/on the back; vice-versa; again’ (< *XP-s)
Gr. ÓP-ithen “the last (one)’ (< *XoP-y-)
Gothic AF-tuma ‘the last (one)’ (< *XoP-tm-)
Skr. ÁP-atya- ‘descendant, successor’
Äwenki AP-kal ‘the first born’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘roots (after cutting/felling); excrescence; poplar’
Äwenki HoP-kon ‘root (of a tree)’
Latvian AP-se ‘poplar’ (< *XoP-sxy-)
Fin. HaaP-a ‘poplar’
(178) Xw-Bh (a) ‘eyebrow; become bushy; to increase, to swell; rich’

O. Corn. AB-rans ‘eyebrow’ (< XwBh-r-)
Gr. OPh-rs+s ‘eyebrow; high riverbank’ (< *XwoBh-rw-)
Gr. OPh-éll% ‘I grow’
Mansi AF-axana ‘to grow bushy’ (< XwBh-xh-)
Khanty ÄP-6tta ‘to increase the quantity of water in a river’ (< *XweBh-xt-)
Arm. aO-AV-elum ‘I grow’ (< *-XwBh-el-)
Lith. ,P-stas ‘richness’ (< *XwoBh-st-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘foliage, leaves; to be covered by leaves; to grow
(about vegetation, etc.)’
Ul#i XaB-data- ‘foliage, leaves’
Nanaj XaB-tsa- ‘foliage, leaves’
Mansi AB-daxa- ‘to be covered by leaves’ (< *XwoBh-dhx-)
Est. HaB-etuma ‘to grow, to swollow’
(179) S-P (a) ‘to splint, to chip; to dig; to bite, to gnaw’

O. Frigian SP-alken ‘to chip, to splint’
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Skr. SPh-a=ati ‘(he) chips, splints’ (< *SP-xyer-t-)
Gr. SP-aráss% ‘I dig’ (< *SP-xyr-)
Skr. SPh-u=ati ‘(he) digs’ (< *SP-xwl-t-)
Gr. SP-ása ‘he pervaded’
Est. SoP-iline ‘dug (out), digged’
Nanaj SäP-kä(i ‘to bite’
Oro#i SäP-pänä- ‘(about fish) to bite, to get the bait’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to break; to get ahead, to jerk, to snatch’
Gr. SPh-adáz% ‘I move in convulsions’ (< *SP-xed-)
Skr. SP-andat' ‘(he) jerked, snatched’
Est. SiP-elda ‘to toss, to writhe’
O. Sl. SP-e&iti ‘to hurry up’ = Gr. SP-eúd%
O. Saxon SP-%d ‘hurry’
Äwenki SüP-ti, SuP-tuwkat- 1 (< *SP-tw-) ‘to get ahead, to hurry ahead’
Negidal SoP-p ‘to wake up abruptly’
(180) Xy-Ky (a) ‘horse; to kick with the hoof; hoof’

O. Eng. EoH ‘horse’ (< *XyeKy)
O. Pers. AS-a ‘horse’
O. Turk. EM ‘(interj.) incentive for a horse to go’
Skr. ÁÇ-v# ‘mare’ (< *XyeKy-wx-)
Fin. HE-vonen ‘horse’ (< *HeK-v- < *XyeKy-w-)
Skr. Ç-aphá- ‘hoof’ (< *XyKy-opxw-)
Est. HO-bu-‘equestrian’ (< *HoK-p < *XyoKy-p-)
Mansi ÄK-tä- ‘to kick with the hoof’ (< *XyeKy-kwt-)
O. Eng. H-%f ‘hoof’ (< *XyKy-oxp-)
1
Presumably a misprint in the original: HuP-tuwkat-.
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Fin. K-avio ‘hoof’ (< *XyKy-xw-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to jump; to run; fast’
O. Turk. EP- ‘to jump’ (< *XyeKy-s-)
Lith. P-ókti ‘to jump’
Est. K-arata ‘to jump’
Mansi ÄK-&ä- ‘to run’ (< *XyeKy-s-)
Lat. C-urr% ‘to run, go fast’ (< *XyKy-ors-)
Skr. Ç-2ghrá- ‘fast’ (< *XyKy-xy-gh-)
Fin. K-iire ‘run’ (< *XyKy-xy-r-)
• Cf. Rom. cea [pron. (a], incentive for a horse or ox to turn right, against
h"is [h6js], an incentive to turn left. The two interjections still belong to the
basic rural vocabulary.
(181) Xw-Kw ‘eye; to see; to look at; to examine’

Lat. OCU-lus ‘eye’ (< *Xwo-Kw-l-)
Skr. ÁK-&i ‘eye’
Avestan ,K-asat ‘(he) saw’ (< *e-XwKw-es-)
Gr. ÓP-somai ‘I (may) see, observe’ (< *XwoKw-s-)
Fin. HaK-ea ‘to look for, to search’ (< *XwKw-exy-)
Ionian óp-*P-a ‘(he) saw’
Fin. HA-vaita ‘to see’ (< *HaK-v- < *XwKw-w-)
Gr. OP-tmr ‘a scout’ (< *XwoKw-t-)
Fin. HA-vainto ‘searching, scouting’ (< *XwKw-w-)
(182) S-Kw (a) ‘to prepare for depart; to put clothes on for depart; to prepare
for stopping somewhere’; (b) equipment for a trip, tool(s), specific tools
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Äwenki SuK-sil#- ‘to tie up in the pack-saddle’ (< *Skw-s-)
Skr. SK-andhayati ‘to set up for a trip’
Fin. SuK-si ‘ski’
Äwenki SuK-sin- ‘to put something in the packsaddle’
Est. SoK-utama ‘to erect something somewhere’
Skr. pari-PK-ar ‘to prepare’
Eolic SP-olá ‘pack-saddle, wallet’ (< *SKw-ol-)
Gr. SK-eûos ‘endowment, equipment’ (< *SKw-ews-, with dissimilative
delabialisation)
Skr. upa-SK-ara ‘mobile tools’
Lith. SK-mt' ‘(he) put (it)’
Fin. SuK-kela ‘quick, nimble’
Lith. SK-leîd' ‘to set (for rest)’
• Cf. Rom. scul" ‘a tool’ and a se scula ‘to wake up, to stand up’. Usually
the dictionaries do not make the association between the two forms, and
again usually the former is considered of unknown origin (the suggested
hypothesis that an indigenous Thracian origin may be possible), whereas the
latter is considered from a reconstructed Latin form *excubulare. If such an
approach is possible, then Thracian (and hence Romanian) may have
preserved the two basic meanings as paralleled by Andreev: (a) ‘to wake up’
(< ‘to prepare for a trip’) and (b) ‘tool’ (the closest approach is Skr.
upa.SK.ara ).
(183) X-T ‘grass; to grow again after haymaking; persistent grass after
winter’
Lith. AT-ólas ‘grass’ (< *XT-exwl-)
Russ. dial. OT-áva ‘grass remained since the previous year’ (< *XT-exww-)
O. Turk. OT ‘grass, greens’
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Skr. AT-ana- ‘a path from one pasture to another’
Est. HooT-i ‘from time to time’ (< *XoT-xyy-)
Äwenki ÄT-käpti ‘recently’ (< *XT-kep-)
Äwenki HaT-apti ‘old’ (< *XeT-xp-)
Skr. AT-rava ‘two years ago’
Umbrian AK-no = Lat. annus (< *AT-no- < *XT-no-)
Fin. HiD-as ‘slowly’ (< *XeT-xys-); Fin. HiT-aus ‘slowness’; Fin. HäD-in
‘hardly, slowly’
(184) Xw-D (a) ‘fecundation, fertilisation; birth; pregnancy’

Oro#i '()*&*$ ‘(about a woman) to have a sexual intercourse’ (<
+,-.()&))
Negidal '()/0a ‘to get married’
Fin. HeD-elmöittää ‘to fecundate’
Vedic ,D-ana ‘to fecundate = to get seed’ (< *xwe-XwD-)
Gr. *D-ís ‘pain of labours’ (< *-XwD-y-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘from whom, from what; to depart’
Slavic OD, OT ‘from; since’
O. Lat. -*D
Nanaj XaD-a(i ‘to depart’
Ul#i XaD-#n ‘to depart’
Äwenki AD-a8a ‘to jump’ (< *XwD-x-)
(185) S-T ‘to set a stake or peg (on the bottom of the trap); to set or put in
general; to sit down’
Khanty S$T-pa7 ‘to set a stake in the trap’
Gr. ST-aurós ‘a stake’ (< *ST-xew-)
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Skr. ST-ambha ‘a stake, a spike’
Norw. dial. ST-agle ‘a stake, a spike’
Khanty S6T-te7 ‘palisade, paling’
Lat. ST-#re ‘to stay’
Skr. STh-#payitum ‘to set, to put’ (< *ST-xex-w-)
Est. SeaD-a ‘to set, to establish’ (< *SeT-xxw-)
(186) Xy-Ghy (a) ‘fish hook; to fish; to pull the fish out of water; to take
out, to extract’
Mansi Xa)-ila- ‘to set the net (from one bank to another)’ (< *XyoGhy-xy-)
Russ. dial. JeZ ‘fish hook’ (< *XyeGhy)
Äwenki Ho) ‘a lake or pond for fishing’ (< *XyoGhy)
Äwenki HÄ-gir ‘fish hook’ (< *XyeGhy-ghr-)
Russ. dial. JeZ-ezy ‘a kind of net for catching salmons’
Äwenki Q-äl2mägdä ‘fish net’ (< *XyGhy-ely-)
Ul#i Q-azara ‘to fish (with the net)’ (< *XyGhy-xr-)
O. Mong. Q-ul8u ‘to pull out, to snatch’ (< *XyGhy-xwl-)
Skr. aj-3H-apat ‘(he) took out’ (< *-y-XyGhy-ep-)
Khanty EKh-kh6tta ‘to spill (over)’ (< *XyeGhy-gh-)
Gr. dial. EKh-thós ‘aside, on one side, out’ (< *XyeGhy-dh-)
Ul#i XäQ-ä(ä ‘to cut a fish’s belly’
Udegej Q-okï ‘spawn’ (< *XyGhy-ok-)
Nanaj XäQ-äli ‘to cut, to rip’ (< *XyeGhy-ly-)
Gr. EK-s (adv. and prep.) ‘out of, out’ (< *XyGhy-s-)
Skr. ÁH-a ‘aside, out’ (< *XyeGhy-x-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘big fish; fish; a kind of fish’
Mansi AQ-ïn ‘sturgeon’
Russ. JaZ ‘orfe, ide’ (the fish Leuciscus idusidus)
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Negidal Q-a(ïn ‘pike, jack’ (the fish Esox lucius)
Äwenki Q-älbän ‘burbot’ (the fish Lota vulgaris)
Oro#i Q-adïgï ‘a big fish’ (< *XyGhy-xd-)
Gr. IKh-thŒs ‘fish’ (< *XyGhy-dw-)
Arm. J-ukn ‘fish’ (< *XyGhy-wk-)
Lith. K-uvis ‘fish’ (< *XyGhy-wy-)
O. Mong. Q-igasun ‘fish’ (< *XyGhy-yg-)
Khanty Kh-ul ‘fish’ (< *XyGhy-xwl-)
Fin. K-ala ‘fish’ (< *XyGhy-lx-) = Hung. H-al
Lith. EK-egys ‘pope, ruff’ (the fish Acerina cernua)
Udegej Q-aw7a ‘sheat fish (Silurus glanis)’
Nanaj Q-ojï ‘sheat fish’
Udegej Q-o)u8o ‘gudgeon, chub’
(187) S-Ky (a) ‘to cover; to hide’

Khanty SeM-6mtä ‘to cover the bank with water; to flood, to spill over
(about a river) (< *SeKy-xm-)
Khanty SeM-jö7k ‘to cover the bank with ice, ice on the river bank (jönk
‘ice’)
Gr. SK-epá% ‘I cover’
Mansi SaM-ala ‘to wear a helmet’ (i.e. ‘to cover the head with a helmet’)
Gothic SK-alja ‘a roof; tile’
O. Ir. SC-2ath ‘breast plate’
O. Eng. SC-amian ‘to cover his/her loins’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to close; to lock, a lock’
Skr. CH-adati ‘(he) closes, locks’ (< *Sky-od-)
Äwenki SiM-2- ‘to close’
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Oro#i S2M-ä ‘a lock’
Note. The meaning ‘to cover, to protect (by covering or guarding)’ has
various localised sacred or taboo meanings. This complex topic cannot be
developed here.
(188) Xy-Dh ‘to enclose, an enclosure, a pen; a baulk, a boundary (which

separates one’s property against the neighbour’s property)’
O. Germ. ET-ar ‘an enclosure’ (< *XyeDh-r-)
Khanty AT’ ‘a fence’ (< *XyDh-x-)
Germ. dial. ES-ter ‘a gate’ (< *XyeDh-dr-)
Gr. dial. ÓS-trimon ‘a stable; an enclosure for animals’ (< *XyoDh-tr-)
Ukr. OD-rHna ‘a stable’
Khanty AT’-ïta ‘to enclose’
Russ. dial. JéD-oma ‘a location for pasturing; an elevated place on a river bank’
Gr. dial. ÓTh-rys ‘a mountainous enclosure’ (< *XyoDh-rw-)
Gr. OTh-neîos ‘stranger’ (i.e. ‘one who comes from another landmark’)
(189) Xw-K (a) ‘to think, thinking, thought; understanding; attention;

carefully’
Gothic AH-jan ‘to think’ (< *XwoK-y-)
Äwenki OX-sa-‘to think; to be preoccupied with surviving over
winter’ (< *XwoK-s-)
Oro#i 12)343)$$‘to think’ (< *,-2)54))
O. Turk. 16)$$‘to understand’
Gothic 78)3$‘reason, thinking’
O. Mong. 1,)3934$‘reason; commitment, decision’ (< +,-2):54))
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Äwenki 12-;<=$‘skilful’
O. Germ. 78-&3$‘attention’ (= 7>?&@4A)
Fin. 8@B-C/.$‘attention’ (< *8@.2)C)$$< *,-.2)C))
Gr. 34)72)D%$‘careful’ (< +),-2).5-))
Skr. 7E-3&/$‘perceivable, notable’
Gr. dial. 72):F:/$‘(he) observes’
Äwenki B2)%.)$$‘to think (over), to consider’
Gr. G2)4.%$‘laziness; fear’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to analyse in detail; to scrutinize’
Gr. BH)&:F.C3/$‘I scrutinize’ (< +,-.2)IC))
Fin. 8.2):3$‘to say again and again; to repeat by saying’
O. Mong. JK):</0:$‘to relate in detail’ (< +,-2):LI))
Äwenki 12)<*4)$$‘to narrate, to tell’ (< +,-2)LI:4))
O. Mong. JK):4$‘a word, a saying’
(190) ,I)K$$<1=*‘to wake up; to become conscious after sleep’

Skr. 7M)343$‘waking up’ (< +,I:K)4))
Skr. N)OK).4&/$‘(he) woke up’ (< +):,IK).4))
Vedic N)PK)Ota ‘(they) woke up’ (< *-XyG-r-)
Gr. EG-eír% ‘I wake up’ (< *XyeG-ry-)
Homeric EG-rmss% ‘I wake up’ (egeír%)
Fin. HA-vahtua ‘to wake up’ (< *HaK-vh- < *XyoG-wx-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to be startled, to start; to move, movement’
Äwenki HoG-na- ‘to move’
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Fin. HiE-vahtaa ‘to be startled, to move from one place’ (< *HieK-vh- <
*XyeG-wx-)
Gr. 0G-ásth' ‘(he) moved’ (< *e-XyG-xs-)
Lat. AG-ilis ‘nimble’
Doric ÁG-# (< ékh%) ‘I carried, I followed’
(191) Xw-P (a) ‘labour; to work hard; prepared’

O. Eng. ÆF-ian ‘to work’ (< *XwP-y-)
Vedic ÁP-na- ‘labour; offering’ (< *XwoP-n-)
Hitt. HaP-pina• ‘to offer his/her work to the children’
Lat. OP-us
Skr. ÁP-as- ‘work, labour’
Ul#i AP-aw- ‘to stop working’ (< *XwP-xw-)
Vedic AP-tu ‘industrious’
Gr. ÓP-is ‘divine providence; divine preoccupation’
O. Mong. XaB-i ‘skilful’ (< *XwP-y-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to select, to choose; to tap’
Lat. OP-t% ‘I choose’
Fin. HyP-istellä ‘to tap’ (< *XwP-y-)
Fin. HaP-uilla, HaP-aroida ‘to grope, to fumble’
(192) S-X (a) ‘sun, sunlight; bright’

O. Norse S*-l ‘sun’ (< *SoX-l)
Doric H,-lios, Attic H0-lios ‘sun’ (< *SeX-ly-)
Negidal Si--ün ‘sun’ (< *SX-wn-)
Äwenki Si--~n ‘sun’
Avestan X-v6ng, gen. ‘sun’ (< *SX-wen-g-)
Khanty S-ü7k ‘sun’ (< *SX-wn-gy-)
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Oro#i SÄ-wnä- ‘to be bright (about sun)’ (< *SXe-wn-)
Lith. SÁ-ul' ‘sun’ (feminine gender, as in German; also a deity with this
name) (< *SXo-wl-)
Khanty SÄ-7kin6 ‘during daylight’
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to get oriented (after the sun); to find the right
way (following the sun)’
Russ. pó-SO-lon"$(adverb) ‘(to get oriented, to follow) the sun from dawn
to sunset’ (< *-SX-l-)
Fin. SU-unistaa ‘to get oriented’ (< *SX-wn-)
Est. SU-unama ‘to get to, to set for’
Est. SiH-t ‘getting right’
O. Ir. SA-igim ‘I get (may way) to, I set for’ (< *SX-gy-)
O. Norse S‚-kja ‘to get to, to set for’ (< *SoX-gy-)
(193) Xy-X ‘fire; hearth; to burn; lightning; to glitter’

Fin. HeH-kua ‘to burn’ (< *XyeX-gw-)
Hitt. HaA-&&i ‘on fire, on the hearth’ (< *XyoX-s-)
Äwenki HïH-6( ‘to get (hands, legs) warm by the fire’ (< *XyX-ky-)
Negidal XiX-ät ‘to get warm by the fire’ (< *XyX-et-)
Avestan ,-tar& ‘fire’ (< *XyeX-t-)
Ir. ,-tho, gen. ‘oven’
O. Ir. ,-ed ‘fire’ (< *XyoX-ydh-)
Gr. A-îthos ‘fire, flame’
Gr. HE-phthós ‘baked, cooked’ (< *XyXe-ghwdh-)
Gr. HE-ú% ‘to cook, to bake’ (< *XyXe-ws-)
Äwenki H0- ‘lightning’ (< *XyX-eXyX, with reduplication)
Äwenki H0-lta ‘to shine’
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Äwenki H0-rkin ‘lightning’
Negidal X0-gdi ‘to shine’
Fin. HoH-de ‘shining, brightness; lightning’ (< *XyoX-dxw-)
Gr. A-ugm ‘shining, brightness’ (< *XyX-wg-)
Gr. A-ithós ‘having the colour of fire’
(194) Xw-Xy ‘hungry, hunger; teeth; to eat; food’

Äwenki Hü--i ‘hungry’ (about animals) (< *XwXy-y-)
Negidal X~X-a(an ‘hungry’ (< *XwXy-eky-)
O. Turk. ,-( ‘hungry’
Nanaj XU-ktä ‘tooth’ (< *XwXy-kwt-)
Gr. n-*-dós ‘toothless’ (< *ne-XwXy-d-)
Khanty Ä--DiD6ta ‘to eat’ (< *XweXy-ly-)
Gothic 0-tum ‘they ate’ (< *XweXy-d-)
Khanty Ö--6ltä ‘to eat’ (< *XwoXy-lxy-)
Skr. ,-çayati ‘to feed’ (< *XwoXy-ky-)
Khanty Ä--D6pt6ta ‘to cram, to stuff (with much food)’
Doric ed-*-d# ‘food, meal’
Skr. ,-çita ‘food’
• Cf. Rom. a hali ‘to eat’ (now pejorative); h"mesit ‘hungry’ and Alb. ha
‘to eat’; hamës ‘hungry’. This is another example, which shows the
preservation of the archaic Proto-Boreal velar spirant down to Romanian
and Albanian (via a so-called laryngeal in Thracian, maybe also in Illyrian);
its treatment in Proto-Romanian was h, f or zero; similarly in Albanian,
where it seems that the treatment th is also possible. See also # (198) below.
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(195) S-Xy ‘dense sowing; bush, bushy; to sow’; the initial meaning does
not seem to be related to intentional agriculture, but to activities
independent from human activity, like wild vegetation.
Äwenki Si--2 ‘a dense forest’ (< *SXy-y-)
Fin. SI-itä ‘to increase the number (of family members) genetically, to
breed’ (< *SXy-y-)
Negidal Si--~ ‘bush’ (< *SXy-w-)
Ul#i S0-ü ‘a dense forest, a dense bush’ (< *SeXy-w-)
Negidal S0-ktax ‘osier (Salix fragilis) bush’ (< *SeXy-kwt-)
Lat. SE-r% ‘to sow; to give birth to; to generate’ (< *SXye-s-); S0-u2 <
*SeXy.w-
Lat. SA-tus ‘sowing’; fig. ‘breed, descendancy’ (< *Sxy-t-)
Fin. SI-ittää ‘to beget, to procreate’ (< *SXy-ydh-)
O. Sl. S0-jf ‘I sow’ (< *SeXy-y-)
Lith. pa-S0-liaî ‘sowings’ (< -SeXy-l-)
Fin. SÄ-nki ‘stubble’ (< *SXy-en-)
(196) Xy-S (a) ‘enclosed place; family place; a settlement; to live, to

be located’
Mansi XaS-xala ‘to enclose a place with branches for living
there’ (< *XyoS-xl-)
Skr. KP-'ti ‘(he) lives’ (< *XyS-ey-)
Fin. AS-ua ‘to live’ (< *XyS-w-)
Äwenki ÄS-äp(i ‘steadfast, constant’ (< * XyS-ep-)
Est. AS-ukas ‘inhabitant’
Äwenki HäS-än ‘family, breed’ (< *XyeS-n-)
Fin. AS-utus ‘a location, a settlement’
Avestan P-%ithra ‘settlement’ (< *XP-%i- < XyS-oy-)
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Est. AS-ula ‘living’
Arm. P-'n ‘living, inhabited place’
Est. AS-e ‘locality, settlement’
Avestan P-iti ‘living’ (< *XyS-xt-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘healthy of our breed/family; good, healthy; fat’
Est. HäS-ti ‘good’ (< *XyeS-dy-)
Hitt. AAP-&uu& ‘good’ (< *XyoS-sw-)
Gr. 0-ÿs ‘good’
Gr. dial. HeS-lós ‘good’
O. Turk. ES-än ‘healthy’ (< *XyeS-xn-)
Khanty IS-67 ‘healthy’ (< *XyS-xn-g-)
Lat. S-#nus ‘healthy’ (< *XyS-exn-)
Gr. ,S-ai ‘to be satiated’
Gothic S-áths ‘satiated; fat’ (< *XyS-xt-)
Arm. H-a( ‘fat; well done’ (< *XyS-xd-)
(197) Xw-S (a) ‘group of hunters; to hunt in a group; to act together;

partner’
Gr. dial. KS-s+ná ‘together’ (< *XwS-wxy-)
Nanaj XüS-äg)a ‘hunter’ (< *XwS-eghwdhy-)
Ul#i XaS-asï ‘to run/race the game; to race, to run’ (< *XwS-xes-)
Avestan XP-ay% ‘power, force’ (< *XwS-ey-)
Oro#i XüS-äntä pl, ‘men’
Fin. US-ea ‘many’ (< *XwS-y-)
Khanty OS ‘still, again, once more’ (< *XwoS-)
Skr. ,S-kra- ‘together, gathered together’ (< *Xwe-XwS-kr-)
Luvian HiS-hija- ‘to be linked, united’ (< *XwS-xyey-)
Fin. YS-tävä ‘friend’ (< *XwS-dexy-)
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Lat. S-ocius ‘partner’ (< *XwS-okwxy-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to hurt the game; to strike’
Negidal HïS-mïkï( ‘to impale the fish’
Skr. ca-KP-#7a ‘to hurt’
Gr. é-KS-'na ‘(he) hurt’
Nanaj XoS-olï ‘a strike (while hunting)’
(198) X-Xw ‘to cut trees; stone axe; to cut; sharp, to sharpen’
Äwenki Hu-- ‘to cut, fell trees’ (< *XoXw-)
Äwenki H*-n- ‘to cut, fell trees’ (< *XoXw-n-)
Äwenki Ho--ï- ‘to cut’ (< *XoXw-y-)
M. Mong. HO-qtal- ‘to cut’ (< *XXw0-kwt-)
Oroki XA-kta- ‘to castrate a stag’ (< *XXw-kwt-)
Oro#i XO-ja- ‘to cut’ (< *XXwo-y-)
Khanty Ä--6t’D’6ta ‘to cut’ (< *XeXw-dl-)
Khanty Ö--6ttä ‘to cut’
Oro#i X*-7ï- ‘to cut (with an axe, sword etc.)
Gothic A-gizi ‘axe’ (< *XXw-gw-)
Nanaj X*-gdo- ‘iron bar, crow-bar for making a hole in (i.e. cutting) the
ice’ (< *XoXw-ghwdh-)
Hitt. HE-gur- ‘sharp’ (< *XXwe-gwr-)
Negidal A--at ‘sharp’ (< *XXw-xt-)
Äwenki A--a ‘a box for needles’
Khanty O--6( ‘the reverse part of the knife or sword’ (< *XoXw-ky-)
Gr. ak-*-k' ‘sharpness, the sharp part of a knife etc.’ (< *-XoXw-ky-)
Negidal A--an#- ‘to sharpen’
Cymric HO-gi ‘to sharpen’ (< *XXwo-ky-)
Mansi XI-sxa- ‘to sharpen’ (< *XXw-sx-)
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Breton HI-golen ‘whetstone, gritstone (i.e. stone for
sharpening)’ (< *XXw-ky-)
Fin. HIO-a ‘to sharpen’
• Cf. Rom. a h"cui ‘to cut’, usually considered from German hacken ‘to
chop; to hoe’; the German word puts problems of etymological analysis. At
a first sight, it may also belong to this root, but there are serious difficulties
of phonetic evolution. On the other hand, an evolution PB *X > Thr. *H
(laryngeal) > Rom. h seems normal. Future investigations should clarify the
topic. See also # (194) above.
(199) Xw-X ‘water; to swim to the other bank; a water-flow, to flow; to wash’
Hitt. HA-ppa ‘water’ (< *XwX-p-)
Fin. HuuH-toa ‘to wash’ (< *XwoX-t-)
Ul#i X,- ‘to swim across the river’ (< *XweX-)
Hitt. HA-pa ‘river’ (< *XwX-op-)
Oroki X,-g- ‘to get to the shore (by swimming or floating)’ (< *XweX-g-)
Nanaj X,-bo- ‘to get to the bank/shore’ (< *XweX-b-)
Fin. HuuH-de ‘a rinse, a wash; rinsing’ (< *XwoX-d-)
Äwenki H,-k- ‘to get out of water’ (< XweX-k-)
Est. UH-k ‘(clean, fresh) spring water’ (< *XwX-k-)
Khanty O--imt6ta ‘to flow’
Mansi dial. A--a ‘rain’
Khanty O--6Dt6ta ‘to sprinkle, to water’
Est. UH-tma ‘to wash’
Khanty O--sem ‘water-source, water-spring’
Khanty 5--tam ‘river-branch’ (especially in case of a flood)
Est. UH-utud ‘wet’
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Khanty O- ‘a water-course’
Skr. ,-ugha- ‘a small river, a rivulet’ (< *XwoX-w-)
Russ. dial. JA-voŽ ‘a swift water-course’ (< *XwoX-w-)
Äwenki ,-w- ‘to tether, to fix to the bank’
Doric ,-peiros ‘bank, shore’ (< *XweX-p-)
Skr. ,-pa- ‘water’
Äwenki ,-mät ‘a lake, a pond’
Skr. ,-r2- ‘water’ (< *XweX-r-)
Skr. ,-tu- ‘an object floating on water, a raft’ (< *XwoX-tw-)
• There have been numerous discussions whether to consider Rom. ap"

‘water’ a Latin or an indigenous Thracian word. The evolution from Lat.
acqua to Rom. ap" is of course normal; nevertheless there are indeed
Thracian words attested in ancient Greek and Latin documents which would
allow to suppose that a Thracian word similar or identical to Rom. ap" may
have influenced the modern form in Romanian. Andreev’s list allows indeed
such a view.
(200) S-Xw (a) ‘jump, to jump; upwards’

Khanty So--6m ‘a jump’ (< *SoXw-m-)
Gr. HÁ-lma ‘a jump’ (< *SXw-lm-)
Khanty Sa--6lt6ta ‘to jump’
Lat. SA-li% ‘I jump’ (< *SXw-ly-)
Äwenki S*-mna- ‘to jump out of water’ (< *SoXw-mn-)
Doric HA-leumai ‘I jump’ (< *SXw-lew-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘calf of the leg, thigh; to strike with the hoof;
terrible strike, terrible, terrifying’
Khanty S"--6n’t’ ‘calf of the leg’
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Lat. S1-ra ‘calf of the leg, shank’ (< *SXw-wr-)
Äwenki So--ïnt?- ‘to strike with the foot’
Äwenki S* ‘terrible, wicked’ (< *SoXw-)
Lat. SA-euus ‘savage, wicked, cruel’ (< *SXw-yw-)
(201) X-Xy ‘vital force, energy; powerful, bold; lucky; deft’

Skr. ,-yu- ‘vital force, energy’ (< *XeXy-yw-)
Äwenki A-ja ‘healthy’
Oro#i XÄ-ntä ‘a man who killed a bear; bold hunter’ (< *XXy-en-)
Oroki XaX-a- ‘powerful’ (< *XoXy-x-)
Äwenki H>-n- ‘to get an animal’s trace’ (< *XeXy-n-)
Äwenki HÄ-ldur ‘fortunately; what a good luck!’ (< *XXyw-l-)
Khanty y-ja7- ‘lucky; happy’
Äwenki HÄ-rlaw- ‘to boast, to brag’ (< *XyXe-r-)
Mansi XÄ-rdä- ‘to prepare for a jump’ (< *XXye-r-)
Gr. dial. eu-0-pelms ‘powerful’ (< *-XeXy-p-)
Äwenki H0-s%- ‘to get force, energy’
Äwenki H0-ka ‘deft’
Negidal XÄ-dän ‘full of energy, deft’ (< *XXye-d-)
O. Turk. E-dgü ‘good’
Est. HE-a ‘good’ (< *XXye-x-)
(202) Xy-Xw (a) ‘to tell, to say; to announce; to glorify’

Fin. HuHu-taan (että) ‘to say, relate (that)’ (< *XyXwo-dx-)
Fin. HA-astaa ‘to speak’ (< *XyXw-xs-)
Avestan ,-dha ‘(he) said, (he) spoke’ (< *XyoXw-dh-)
O. Turk. A-j- ‘to speak’
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Lat. ,-j% ‘I say, I relate’ (< PIE *66-y- < *XyXw-y-)
Gr. •-nato ‘he spoke calmly’ (< *XyoXw-nxy-)
Gr. dial. an-•-g% ‘I express a request, I ask for something’ (< *-XyoXw-g-)
Skr. ,-ha ‘(he) spoke’ (< *XyoXw-ghy-)
Äwenki Ho--owun ‘an improvised song’ (< *XyoXw-w-)
Äwenki Ha--#- ‘to sing’ (< *XyXw-ex-)
(b) Derived meaning: ‘to call, to shout; to groan’
Äwenki Ä--a ‘a call, a shout; hey’
Lat. *-h'
Fin. HA-aste ‘a call for challenge; challenge’ (< *XyXw-xs-)
Ir. , ‘a call’ (< *XyoXw)
Gr. *-m
Äwenki Ä--iw(än ‘to call with an echo’
Fin. HU-utaa ‘to shout’ (< *XyXw-wt-)
Gr. O-nkáomai ‘I shout, I yell’
Äwenki Ä--är- ‘to groan’
M. Ir. O-ng ‘a groan’
• Cf. Rom. a hui, a vui ‘to hum, to roar’, huiet = vuiet ‘roaring’; hu, huo
(interjection) ‘boo’. Another example of preserving the archaic Proto-Boreal
velar spirant via a Thracian laryngeal.
(203) X-S ‘married woman; family life; a woman with children’

Negidal AS-amalïn ‘only women’ (< *XS-xm-)
Äwenki AS-#dï (adj.) ‘woman-; feminine’ (< *XS-exd-)
Äwenki AS-a7ud ‘to woo’
Oro#i AS-ala- ‘to get married’
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Ul#i AS-tun)a ‘husband and wife; spouses’
Äwenki AS-ït#- ‘to live together, in concubinage’ (< *XS-xy-)
Oroki ÄS-äräj ‘to be pregnant’ (< *XS-er-)
Khanty wS ‘mother’ (< *XS-)
Derived meaning: ‘breast; teat; maternal milk’
Khanty ÄS-6m ‘teat’
Oroki XoS-optu ‘breast, bosom’ (< *XoS-pt-)
Avestan FP-t#na- ‘breast, bosom’ (< XP-t#n- < *XS-ton-)
Avestan XP-v2d- ‘milk’ (< *XS-wy-)
Khanty ÄS-6mj67k ‘milk’
Skr. KP-v'dat' ‘(she) produces milk’ (< *XS-woy-)
Avestan XQ)@RS3)$$‘which flows, flowing’
Vedic 2Q)3S/&/$‘(she) produces milk’ (< +,T).S))
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154
Proto!Boreal Lexicon / Addendum
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ADDENDUM
The distribution of the Uralic and Altaic linguistic groups1
The Uralic Group
!"!"##$%&'()*#+,(*#-.
!"#"/."+!"##)-+0($12
!"#"#",*34$%!"##)-
!)##)5.+671$8)9
:54$#)*#+6:"54)9
;*("3)*#
<"25=
>?$(
<$4@*AB+<$CD)
E)F)*#
!"#"$""E*22)5.
!"#"%"<$3'*+71G%0($12
H1($8
H"()*#
H"ID"(
H$(CF)*#
H*()
1
A table of the Indo!European groups was included in the first volume of this
series.
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155
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!"#"& J"(8)*#+71G%0($12
&C81(4
;$8)
!"$"&'()*#+0($12
!"$"#"KG)%&'()*#
H*#5)
;.*#4@
!"$"$"H*'@*(+6L1#'*()*#9
'"7*8$"C)-+,(*#-.
'"#"M$(4."(#+0($12
'"#"#"M"#"D+6N"O"P9
'"#"$":#"D
'"#"%"M'*#*5*#
'"$"7$14."(#+0($12
'"$"#"7"3A12
'"$"$";*8*
'"$"%"K4."(+F*#)5."C+3*#'1*'"5
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156
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The Altaic Group
A Turkic (formerly also labelled Turko-Tatar)

AA Group !"and #"(generically labelled !-Turkic)
AA 1 Southeast (!agataj or Ujgur)
Uzbek
Iranized dialects (base of literary language: 6 vowels
and lack of vowel harmony
Non-Iranized (8–10 vowels and vowel harmony)
(Neo)-Ujgur (with many dialects)
Salar (close to Ujgur)
AA 2 Southwest (Oghuz or Türkmen)
Turkish
Azeri
Türkmen
Gagauz
AA 3 Northwest (Kyp"ak or Cuman)
Karaim
Kumy
Kara"aj-Balkar
Krym Tatar (Crimean Tatar)
Tatar (Tartar)
Ba#kir
Kazakh
Karakalpak
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157
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Kyrgyz
Nogaj
Cumanic (extinct)
AA 4 Northeast (Altaj or Siberian)
Chaka
$or"
!ulym
Altaj (formerly Ojrat)
Tuva (Tuvian)
Jakut (Yakut; much modified during the last decades
under Evenki and Mongolian influence)
AB Group $"and %"($-Turkic)
!uva# (possibly continues now extinct Volga Bulgar)
Volga Bulgar (extinct)
Hunic (extinct)
B Mongolic
Mongolian (Chalch dialect is most used, also the base of literary
and official Mongolian)
Buriat (Chorin dialect is most used)
Kalmyk (the most representative of the Ojrat area, see above)
Tung-Siang (province of Kan-su, China)
Monguor (Tchu-cu, province of !ching-chaj)
Dagur
Paoan (province of Kan-su, China)
Mogol
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158
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C Manchu-Tungus (also spelled Man%u)

C 1 Manchu
Manchu (also literary Manchu)
&ur"en (extinct)
C 2 Tungus
Siberian
Evenki (formerly Tungus)
Eveni
Negidal
Solon
Amur
Nanaj
Oroki (Oro"on)
Ul"i
Udegej
Oro"i
D Korean2
2
Some linguists assume it may be derived from Manchu!Tungus, others to
consider it as a language in itself, of unknown phyletic tree.
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159
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Distribution of the European pre-historic cultural groups
Note. The graphical representation below is an attempt, which loosely

reflects an approximate, reconstructed distribution of the archaeological and
linguistic groups before the 5th millennium B.C. For a deeper analysis of
this complex phenomenon, see also the previous volumes in this series
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160
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161
The Velar Spirant
in Thracian and Proto!Romanian
Velar Spirant in Thracian
__________________________________________________________________
The Velar Spirant

in Thracian and Proto!Romanian
Introduction
Across years I have approached perhaps the most debated topic in

Romanian linguistics: the importance, relevance and, ultimately, number of
the indigenous elements in Romanian. How important was the Thracian1
substratum in contouring the specificum of Romanian? Until when was
Thracian spoken? To what extent was Thracian akin to (or different from)
Illyrian? The questions of this type may of course continue. Out of all these
topics, to some of which I dared answers across time, I shall somewhat
deeper analyse the almost forgotten issue of the velar spirant (or ‘laryngeal’)
in Thracian. First of all, I would like to clarify the basic problems of
terminology.
Laryngeal was long consecrated as the standard term for denoting a
specific phoneme, lost by the overwhelming majority of the Indo!European
languages, but the traces of which may be identified in Hittite and, with the
1
I use the term Thracian in its linguistic, not geographical or political meaning. I
repeatedly rejected (see the references) the hypothesis, advocated mainly by the
Bulgarian colleagues in the 1970’s and 1980’s, that there was a South Thracian
idiom (‘Pure Thracian’ or, in German, Echtthrakisch, to just use Ivan Duridanov’s
term) v. North Thracian. In the Romanian literature, the terms used for the
ethno!linguistic substratum of Romanian is Geto!Dacian, Daco!Getian,
Thraco!Dacian, Thraco!Getian, and some variants of these. The reason of this use
is to somewhat discriminate the North Danubian ethnicum (the substratum of
Romanian) v. South Danubian (i.e. the possible substratum of Bulgarian, justified
as long as most Bulgarian scholars are in favour of theory that Thracian was still a
vivid tongue at the arrival of the first Slavic groups, which is – very probably –
true, if not already a more and more accepted detail).
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165
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precious help of the comparative grammar, in other languages of the family,
where it had practically been lost when documents recorded a given stage of
that language. Not all the scholars have agreed with the laryngeal theory.
Among the ‘enemies’ of this theory, we cannot avoid the name of Giuliano
Bonfante, who clearly labelled the laryngeal theory as referring to ‘suoni
mitici’ (mythic sounds). For this topic, see – above all – his still unsurpassed
Studi Romeni (Studies on the Romanian Language); in this paper, references
are to the Romanian version (2001).
Velar spirant was the term used by N. D. Andreev in his famous, now
seemingly forgotten book, (followed by some other studies) on the so!called
Proto!Boreal Language2. In Andreev’s view, there was a mesolithic North
Pontic-Baltic vast region where a specific linguistic group developed before
the 5th millennium B.C. He labelled it Proto!Boreal, and made it responsible
of the subsequent development into three main branches: Indo!European,
Uralic and Altaic. In his works, Andreev used the term velar spirant, instead
of laryngeal, which I also used in the presentation for the International
Congress of Slavicists in Ljubljana (August 2003)3.
The velar spirant was therefore an indefinite phoneme, noted as *X by
Andreev (and, preserving his convention, in this study as well; see above,
the first chapter of this volume), which was later lost in almost all the
Indo!European languages, but which left more or less definite traces in all
the three main linguistic groups derived from Proto!Boreal: Indo!European,
Uralic and Altaic.
This study will focus almost exclusively on the issue of the probable
preservation of a velar spirant in Thracian (as in Hittite) and on its evolution
in the indigenous (Thracian) elements of Romanian. As this topic is, as far
2
Andreev published his Ranne-indoevropskij prayazyk in 1986, followed by two
complementary papers for two subsequent symposia in Tallinn. See the references.
3
An electronic form in PDF format is a free download at http://www.unibuc.ro/en/
cd_sorpaliga_en.
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as I know, rarely approached in the dedicated literature4, these introductory

phrases will be followed by a comprehensive, though probably incomplete,
glossary of terms. The considerations hereby presented reflect
approximately 25 years of investigating the substratum heritage of
Romanian, in particular, and southeast Europe, in general. It only offers a
glimpse of the complex Thracian (and Illyrian) heritage of southeast Europe.
A much larger analysis may be found in our Etymological Lexicon of the
Indigenous Elements in Romanian, the first volume in this series.
Those ‘peculiar’ sounds of Romanian
The hypothesis that Romanian (massively) borrowed from Slavic made a

glorious career in the second half of the 19th century and almost the whole
20th century, with gradually degrading tendencies in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
It is understandable that I do not wish to counterargue on the Slavic
influence upon Romanian, which is a clear fact. I just wish to stress that the
(Proto!)Romanian–Slavic relations were more complex than the simplistic
clichés advocated across time. As such a complexity cannot be just even
sketched here, I shall only concentrate, as warned, on the velar spirant in
late Thracian and in Proto!Romanian. The examples below are hopefully
relevant to the basic hypothesis that the Thracian velar spirant (1) was still a
specific phoneme in the 6th century A.D.; (2) it was specific to only the
indigenous (Thracian) elements in Romanian, but globally affected some
phonetic details of Proto!Romanian too.
The velar spirant is a particular chapter in the vast, complex and still
debated problem of the reconstructable phonetic inventory of Thracian, and
4
The existence of this phoneme in Thracian was furtively noted by Eric P. Hamp
many years ago, and still more furtively, in several words only, noted by Grigore
Brâncu!.
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its evolution to Romanian. It may be now held for certain that Thracian had
a series of specific phonemes like !, ", #, $, ts, at least a neutral vowel %
(noted & in Romanian, ë in Albanian, and ' in Bulgarian), perhaps a
secondary neutral vowel ! (noted â and î in Romanian, but absent in the
other two above quoted languages), even if the Latin heritage of Romanian
would allow us postulate one historical neutral vowel only. But this may be
an interim hypothesis, based on only the Latin heritage, and putting down or
disconsidering the substratum heritage.
Among these phonemes of Romanian (and Albanian) a mention apart
refers to h. It was long assumed that h was a borrowed phoneme from
Slavic, even if we well know that languages borrow words, not phonemes;
furthermore, the presence of h in some obscure, presumably indigenous,
elements would rather indicate its substratum (Thracian) origin. At a deeper
analysis, one may note that – in such instances – phoneme h alternates with
f and sometimes also with v and ( (#), definitely a phenomenon which
cannot be held for a Slavic influence as neither the etymon, nor the phonetic
changes cannot indicate such an influence; nor can it be ascribed to another
influence. We long surmised that it must be a specific phoneme, impossible
to note in documents. Here we may refer to the scarce, but precious,
documents in Greek and Latin, which noted Thracian forms, mainly place
and personal names.
The discrimination laryngeal v. velar spirant is relative. Liliana
Ionescu!Rux"ndoiu (Sala 2001: 307–308) assumes that Rom. h may be
labelled laryngeal whereas Proto!Slavic h was a velar spirant. We may
surmise that both terms, laryngeal and velar spirant, have different
connotations when applied to modern languages, to Proto!Slavic or to a
prehistoric stage. The meaning used here is ‘a specific phoneme of the
prehistoric Proto!Boreal language, which was later lost in most
Indo!European, Uralic and Altaic languages’, i.e. the meaning used by
Andreev, and – by and large – the usual meaning for the term laryngeal.
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As the discussions on such a difficult topic will continue, and referring to
only the archaic, substratum heritage of Romanian, we hypothesise that:
• Phoneme h reflects an original (prehistoric) velar spirant in all
circumstances when identified (or identifiable) in a substratum (Thracian)
word in Romanian. It loan-words of Slavic and Hugarian origin it of
course reflects other origins; phoneme h is not preserved in any form of
Latin origin, because (classical) Latin h was already extinct in the 2th
century A.D. when Dacia was conquered.
• It sometimes alternates with f and v; in the case of these elements
only (i.e. of Thracian or substratum origin), it seems that f also reflects
the original velar spirant, whereas v may also reflect other evolutions,
e.g. IE *w;
• Seemingly only in verbs, when preceding a specific derivational
means specific to verbs, the original velar spirant may be also reflected by (
(#). This is an interim conclusion if we compare the situation of the frequent
evolution s > ( (#), therefore – in such cases – the older phoneme was
probably s, then ( (#) under the influence of the following vowel e or i.
• In two or three examples only (see v&g&un& and zg&u), the velar
spirant is reflected by Romanian g, if our interpretation is correct.
To also note that, with the exception of h, all the other phonemes are also
present in the Latin heritage of Romanian. Also, they are present in the
borrowings from Slavic, with the important note that oldest Slavic forms
which contained ) (transcribed as h or ch) are reflected by Romanian f, not
h; this may be the most important detail that a specific Proto!Romanian
phoneme *X (velar spirant) was still in use when the Proto!Romanians has
their first contacts with the Slavs, and was not identical to either h or f.
On the other hand, Romanian f (as sometimes reflecting the original velar
spirant) corresponds to Albanian th in some cases, as the parallel f&rî* m& v.
therrímë, a detail which confirms the archaic character of this phonetic
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parallel. It is well known that the parallels between Romanian and Albanian
are NOT regular, and they surely reflect (1) chronologically discriminated
evolutions and/or borrowings, and (2) specific evolutions in the two
languages. I would add the traditional views, current in the second half of
the 19th century and during almost the whole 20th century, that Albanian (1)
is a Neo!Illyrian language, and that (2) it usually reflects an older, archaic
character as compared to Romanian. Both are probably erroneous: Albanian
is rather a Neo!Thracian (NOT Neo!Illyrian) idiom, and – in some specific
cases at least – its phonetic features are NEWER, innovative, if compared to
Romanian. The limited length of this paper does not allow to develop on
this topic (for which see our previous studies quoted in the references; also,
the clearcut pages of Giuliano Bonfante 2001: 46 ff.). I would just stress that
Alb. ll is chronologically newer than Rom. r, and in some other cases
Albanian reflects borrowings from (Proto)!Romanian, as the case of mbret,
which cannot reflect a direct continuation of Lat. imperatorem, but of Rom.
împ&rat (pron. +p&rát5) as Adolorata Landi (1996) correctly noted. Again, I
cannot develop on the complex topic of the Romanian!Albanian
correspondences, but just wish to note the real complexity of this aspect.
Trying to define the velar spirant, which was – FOR SURE – a

component of the complex Thracian phonetic inventory, we would dare
underline its specific features: entirely original, impossible to pronounce by
foreigners (like the Greeks and Romans), with peculiar evolutions
connected to syntactic phonetics. Beyond any doubt, in many Thracians
forms noted by the Greek and Latin writers, it was approximated to the
closest available sound, like Carsium, a fortress on the Danube, the
5
In this sequence, Rom. spelling îm!, în! practically reflects the archaic sonant +, ,.
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pronunciation of which probably was *Xars, now Hîr(ova, Hâr(ova in

Romania (with the postulated Slavic suffix ova)6.
The Thracian velar spirant, conventionally noted here by *X, probably
survived in Proto!Romanian, and – again probably – was still vivid at the
arrival of the Slavic groups, as proved by the reflex f for Slavic h (Cyrillic
)), as in -'.)' > vîrf ‘a peak; a prominent part of’: AT THAT TIME,
Romanian h was rather the velar spirant, and seemingly not phoneme h yet!
If our hypothesis may still find enemies, as I assume, please note that the
following lexicon will hopefully prove that the numerous examples of
Romanian forms with phonemes h, f, v and ( as results of a former velar
spirant are a sufficient support, even if – in some cases – the etymological
analysis may not be correct.
Some Case Studies
The lexicon below would perhaps need some specific case studies, which
may better illustrate several typical situations of how the non-attested (and
non-attestable) velar spirant was later realised in specific situations (the the
lexicon for the translation of the Romanian forms, and for further
crossreferences).
6
It is commonly assumed that suffix !ova, relatively frequent in Romanian
place!naming, is a Slavic influence. I would not bet on this assumption, as some
Thracian forms also witness a similar suffix. This hypothesis was, in its turn, the
result of another erroneous assumption: intervocalic b and v cannot be present in an
indigenous form as it cannot be present in the words of Latin origin. As we all
know now, intervocalic b/v was indeed lost in almost all the Latin elements of
Romanian, which does not mean that it should have been lost in the Thracian
elements as well. As I have intensely analysed this erroneous assumption is many
studies, I cannot insist on this topic any more.
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• The form buf is currently held for onomatopoeic; beyond any doubt,
many forms later developed in historically attested languages were initially
onomatopoeic. The case of IE root *ga, *gaga is the basic root for Eng.
goose, pl. geese (among other forms, as in Slavic and also Rom. gîsc&,
gînsac,often held for a borrowing from Bulgarian g&ska, which – in its turn
– rather seems indigenous, of Thracian origin, and interfering with the
expected Slavic form). In order to better understand the evolution of form
buf from a reconstructable prototype *buX, it should be analysed together
with buflei, buft, bufni, bufni/& also with buh and buh&. Also, all these forms
should be parallelled with puf, puf&i/puh&i.
It is clear, on the one hand, that f and h alternate, and that initial b may
alternate with p (similar situations of alternating c/k and g, ! and ", s and z
etc). To add only the indeed tempting parallel puh&i/puf&i ‘to push air by
mouth, to blow’ and Finnish puhua ‘to speak’. In our view, the obvious
similarity of the Romanian and Finnish forms cannot be the result of hazard,
but one of the proofs that there was indeed a common basic vocabulary of
the Indo!European and Uralic languages as correctly analysed by Bojan
#op and N. D. Andreev. In this case, both languages would rather witness
the existence of a prehistoric velar spirant *X, which developed in
Thracian (hence in Romanian) and Finnish as f/h. This is entirely coherent
with other examples.
I also believe that the verb a bu(i is also derived from the same root, with
( ($) alternating with f/h. Modern Romanian ( may be also the result of an
evolution s + e/i, which also affects Latin and indigenous Thracian forms.
• Form ceaf& is obviously related with Alb. qafë ‘neck’. Also, it is related
with mountain!name Ceahl&u (alternating f/h, as above), also with – as we
continue to believe – 0ech ‘Czech’, 0echy ‘Bohemia, Czech lands’ (see our
paper for the Etymologické Symposion in Brno, 2002). This example puts a
lot of problems, and also opens many other discussions. Romanian ce
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(which notes phoneme !) corresponds here to Alb. q, but in other instances
there is Alb. s as in cioar& – sorë ‘ crow’.
• Form f&rîm& ‘a small quantity, a small piece of’ and Alb. therrímë, with
similar meaning. Phoneme f in Romanian v. th in Albanian is not comfortable,
but seems archaic (against preceding examples, where Alb. sorë and qafë seem
rather borrowed from Romanian). If so, we may surmise that velar spirant *X
may have resulted in Rom. f/h/v/( and sometimes in Alb. th.
• Form a flec&ri ‘to gossip, to speak nonsense’ is parallelled in Alb. flet
‘(he/she) speaks’. In Romanian, the root fle! is also met in other forms, for
which see the lexicon below.
• Form h&u ‘an abyss’ seems also reflected in zg&u and perhaps also in
v&g&un&. If our analysis is correct, in some (rare?) circumstances, velar
spirant *X may also result in g. In these examples, z must be a prefix
(frequent enough in the indigenous elements of Romanian), whereas v&! in
v&g&un& must be held of a prefix too.
• Form vatr& is perhaps one of the most relevant. As once noted, and
frequently ignored, it must be related to Lat. 1trium, from *Xatr!, with the
lost of the velar spirant in Latin, and preservation of v in Romanian (via
Thracian). A clear example that v (also reflecting IE *w) may also reflect a
prehistoric velar spirant.
The lexicon below reviews all the certain, probable or possible situations
where a prehistoric velar spirant is reflected in Romanian as the heir of a
certain number of Thracian elements. The list reflects only the indigenous
(Thracian) elements of Romanian where such a phoneme may be surmised
as certain, probable or possible in prehistory. Obviously, many examples
may be debatable, but what cannot be debatable when attempting to
reconstruct such an old, archaic stage?
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Etymological Lexicon of the Thracian Elements in Romanian

witnessing an original velar spirant (or ‘laryngeal’)
This list shows all the forms which may be assumed to have originally
had a velar spirant (or laryngeal), conventionally noted here by *X. It is
probable that it survived in Late Thracian, possibly also in early East
Romance (Proto!Romanian), and it possibly still existed when the contact
with the first Slavic groups occurred in the 6th century A.D. Its reflex in
Romanian was f, h, v and – as far as we may correctly interpret this – also (
as derivational suffix of some verbs. Accidentally, in few examples, the
reflex may also be g (as in v&g&un&, zg&u). In the Thracian forms recorded
by the Greek and Latin writers, as far as we may identify such precursors,
was noted c/k (e.g. Carsium), v (Greek %&) and sometimes Gr. 2.
If our interpretation is correct, the survival of this velar spirant down to
the 6th century A.D. makes Thracian and Proto!Romanian a remarkable
source of linguistic investigation.
NOTE. Some (few) forms, even if not witnessing an original velar
spirant, have been listed for the sake of a clearer situation and for clearer
cross!references. The reader is reminded that the list below will be included
in a larger work to reflect the large indigenous (Thracian) heritage of
Romanian.
afin The bushy plant Vaccinium myrtilus; bilberry. Obscure, therefore

difficult to analyse. The indigenous origin is probable. Phoneme f may
reflect an original velar spirant (laryngeal), alternating with h, v and
sometimes with (. A prefix a and root fin is no more comfortable.
Biharea NL (BH) Beyond any doubt an old place!name, with an
important Mediaeval fortress, from which the whole region of Bihor took its
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name; modern form Bihor has a Hungarian influence, with o v. a in Biharea.
Etymon unclear, very probably indigenous (despite the attempts to explain it
from Hungarian). A reference to NM Vaih1ra < Vih1ra (India, Magadha); if
such a relation may be possible (which would support once more the satem
character of Thracian), then bi v. Old Indian vi/vai means ‘two’, and hárati
‘to take, to bear, to carry’; therefore, the meaning would be ‘two
possessions, two locations’. If indeed a substratum form, phoneme h in
Biharea would indicate an original velar spirant X > h. • If this relationship
is not possible or confirmed, then we must look for another basic root to
satisfy dependencies. Hung. Bihar is from Romanian; see next entry.
Bihor NR With a probable Hungarian phonetic influence (o v. a) from
Biharea. The expected form in Romanian would have been *Bihár.
bîrf! ‘gossip, slander’. See bîrfí.
bîrfí ‘to gossip, to slander’. Seems derived from bîr (beyond any doubt
archaic and indigenous, not analysed here) an appelative for sheep, initially
the word for ‘sheep’ in Thracian. If so, the pejorative meaning was derived
from the basic one ‘to utter sounds similar to those of sheep’. Phoneme f
reminds the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal).
boarf! ‘a rug; old clothes; a prostitute’. Must be analysed in relation
with bor(í and borhot (see); alternating f/( indicate the existence of an initial
velar spirant (laryngeal), and a good hint that the forms should be
indigenous. Etymon unknown; a basic *borX! ‘old, outdated’ may be
reconstructed for a prehistoric form; this covers the modern meaning ‘rug,
old clothes’ and ‘sour liquid’ for the forms bor(!.
borhót ‘marc, husks’. A traditional term used as referring to brewing of
various fruit. Seems related with boarf& < *borX ‘old, outdated’; also
related bor( and zbor(i, with alternating h/f/( < velar spirant *X.
bor" ‘bortsch; sour soup’. Traditional word. The basic meaning is ‘the
basic liquid used for some types of soup, made of corn husk or bran in
lukewarm water’. Most linguists hold it for a Slavic borrowing, even if its
etymological family seems related with bor(i (also zbor(i), boarf& and
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borhot, which are obviously non!Slavic. If indeed Slavic, then all the quoted
dependencies should be clarified too.
bor"í ‘to get sour; to get a bad taste’. Traditionally assumed as derived
from bor(, in its turn assumed of Slavic origin. It seems that bor(í is rather
related with boarf& and borhot (< *borX); further analysis should also
clarify whether bor( is not again a derivative of this root too, and not a
Slavic element, but a Thracian element in Slavic, as its etymological family
is richer in Romanian, and reflects a compact etymological group,
represented by boarf&, borhot and bor(i. See also zbor(i.
buf Imitative of a fall down, approx. ‘bang’. The word originally was
imitative-onomatopoeic, nevertheless its archaic origin is most probable. The
root is *b(h)uX initially denoting a powerful air flow, like a gust of wind or air
when speaking. See buflei, buft, bufni, bufni/&; buh, buh&. The alternating f/h
is specific for the treatment of the archaic velar spirant in Romanian, via
Thracian. See also puh, puf&i/puh&i, probably from the same root.
bufléi ‘a fat, plumpy child or animal’. From the same root as buf,
bufni, bu(i.
buft ‘stomach’. From the same root as buflei ‘fat, plumpy’, and largely
to the root represented by the related forms derived from root *buX: buf,
bufni, buh, bu(i, puf&i and pufni, with the original meaning ‘to swell, to
explode (e.g. air through mouth etc.)’. Alternating f/h/( stand for the original
X, a specific velar spirant (laryngeal).
bufní ‘to sulk, to pout’ (usually referring to small explosions, also
figuratively, as when furious). From the same root buf/buh/bu( as in buh&,
bufni/& and bu(í; also the parallel form pufni is atttested. The alternating f/h/
(, sometimes also v, indicate the existence of a velar spirant (laryngeal). The
family represented by these forms, with alternating f/v/h/(, is the best
example of how prehistoric laryngeal developed, and finally changed into
historically later phonemes. Similarly v&taf/v&tah but the verb a v&t&(í and
NP V&t&(escu v. NP V&tafu. Cf. pufni, puf&i/puh&i.
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bufni#! ‘owl’. The root buf/buh, also in the parallel form buh&, with
alternating f/h, also with alternating f/v/h/(, the indication of prehistoric and
perhaps also historic velar spirant (laryngeal). The root *buX, was initially
onomatopoeic, immitative of the sound made by owls and then generalised
as in the verbs a bufní and a bu(í.
buh Now only in expressions: a i se duce buhul ‘to become known as...’,
usually pejoratively. Derived from root *buX ‘to explode, to inflate, to make
a noise or specific sound’. Here X stands for the archaic velar spirant
(laryngeal).
buh! ‘owl’. A parallel form of bufni/& (see). Cf. a bufní and a bu(í.
bulhác, !e ‘a pond’. From the same root as balt&, with development in
velar spirant (laryngeal) and suffix ac.
burduf, -uri s.n. Akin to Alb. burdhë ‘a bag’ (cf. Rom. burt& ‘belly,
stomach’). The basic root bur- must have had the meaning ‘swollen’, cf.
burt&, bor/, IE *bher-, *bhor- ‘to bear, to carry’, initially applied to the
belly of a pregnant woman, later associated to any swollen, big object,
resembling a pregnant woman's belly. • Rom. final f reflects an initial velar
spirant (‘laryngeal’); cf. a puf&i/puh&i, v&taf etc. originally with the same
velar spirant.
bu"í ‘to make a specific noise, e.g. when falling down; to cuff, to
thump’. With alternating (/f and different development, from the same root
like bufni, further from the same root like buh& and bufni/&.
bu"tean An equivalent of butuc (not analysed in this paper). The
original form seems to have been *bu!tean, and would therefore be a
derivative of buc and/or somewhat related with butuc, buturug&, even if the
alternating bu(t – butuc/buturug is not comfortable. Anyway, the substratum
origin seems probable. The probable IE root is *bheu! ‘to swell, to grow’.
bu"tihán A dialectal form of bu(tean, with h showing an initial velar
spirant (laryngeal).
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bu"umá ‘to scratch and clean a horse with a wisp of straw’. Archaic
term, etymon unclear. If the original meaning may be related to the sound
produced in scratching the horse, than from the same root as bu(i, bufni.
c!f!lie Dialectal and expressive. Seems related with ceaf&, even if the
alternance ce [!] 3 c [k] is not comfortable, and would indicate that some
Thracian dialects had a centumlike, not satemlike, phonetic evolution, a
detail furtively noted by Iv"nescu 1980, but not further argumented. Cf.
sc&f&lie and sc&fîrlie, in which latter case r seems epenthetic. See also NM
Cheafa, Parîng Mts.
ceaf!, cefe s.f. ‘(back part of the) neck’. Related with Alb. qafë ‘neck’.
The ultimate etymon is unclear, perhaps of Preie. origin (as we believe).
Phoneme f probably reflects an archaic velar spirant (or laryngeal in the
traditional terminology), the result of which was f, h, v and zero in
Romanian. This velar spirant is reponsible for a series of specific phonetic
changes, among these the alternation f/h, hence ceaf&/Ceahl&u. As
argumented elsewhere, 0echy ‘the Czech lands, Bohemia (as part of Czech
Republic) seems also derived from this archaic root, with the specific
meaning ‘the neck of a hill’ = ‘mountainous region’. • There is a series of
seemingly related forms without palatal !, i.e. NM Cheafa, c&f&lie, sc&f&lie,
and which are closer to Alb. qafë and Arabic qaf1 ‘neck’. If this relation is
accepted, then we must assume a Pre!Semitic, Circum!Mediterranean term.
Ceahl!u NM One of the examples showing the alternating f/h,
remnants of the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal), therefore the same etymon
as in ceaf& and NL Cefa, further NR 0ech ‘Czech’. Similarly, buh&/bufni/&,
fer&str&u/Her&str&u, v&taf/v&tah, vuí/huí etc. with alternating f/h/v. •
Dr"ganu 1933: 347 refers to Hung. csahló ‘bald eagle’, which should be
anyway reanalysed.
Cefa NL (BH) Same etymon like ceaf&. See also Ceahl&u, with
alternating h/f, remnants of the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal).
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Cheafa NM (Parîng) Related with ceaf&, NM, NL Ceafa, with a
difficult to explain alternance c[k] 3 !, as in ceaf& – c&f&lie, sc&f&lie.
ciuf s.n. ‘a tuft (of hair)’. Also used for various night birds like owls
with two tufts above eyes; named also ciuhurez. Related with cioc (see)
with the same basic meaning ‘pointed, prominent’. Final f as in burduf
and v&taf, a remnant of an initial velar spirant (or laryngeal). Similarly, in
intervocalic position, ceaf&. The variant ciuhurez, with intervocalic h,
also witnesses the initial velar spirant, with different suffix urez, as in
huhurez, also another name for owls.
ciuf! ‘eagle owl’. Derived from ciuf. A parallel name of the eagle owl is
huhurez; see also bufni/& and buh&.
ciufuli ‘to have uncombed hair, as in tufts’. Derived from ciuf.
corhán The insect Blatta germanica. The root cor ‘round, balllike’
seems the same as in corcodu( and corcolí/corconí; phoneme h seems to
witness the original velar spirant (laryngeal). Though apparently without
any etymological relationship, but probably indeed so, see corh&ní below.
corh!ní ‘to roll down felled logs or stumps to a river or road (where
they may be further carried on with a cart or raft)’. Even if without an
apparent relationship, seems derived from, or closely akin to, corhán, and
confirms the basic meaning of root cor ‘round, balllike’, hence ‘to roll down
(like a ball)’.
d!hulá See d&ula.

d!ulá ‘to exhaust, to get rid of physical power’. Obscure, very probably
archaic. The form may be either interpreted as built with prefix de, d& and
the basic root ul, which may be the same Preie. root as in the forms quoted
under root ol!, ul!, having the basic meaning ‘high, peak, mountain’. If so,
d&ula may have meant ‘to get down from the peak’ = ‘to exhaust power’;
alternatively, a root daul, obscure, may be postulated. • The archaic origin is
probable. The dialectal variants d&hulá, dehulá, with intervowel h, may
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indicate an original velar spirant X > h. If so, a root Xul! may be postulated,
non analysable. Cf. d&ulí.
d!ulí ‘to bewail, to lament’. Var. d&olí. We may think that this form is
built with prefix de and aoleu, an interjection of bewail or lament. Even if
the derivation is newer, interjection aoleo, aoleu may be indigenous, and the
form may be archaic. DEX simply assumes that aoleu in onomatopoeic.
Another possibility is to see the verb closely related with the forms derived
from da!, do!, du!, hence the most common is doin&, dain&, duin& (see for
further references of this rich family), the typical Romanian folk song; from
the same root also the ethnonym Daci, Dacisci, the northern branch of the
Thracians. We are inclined to supporting this latter explanation, which is in
full accordance with other data and preserving the tradition of the Thracians
as good musicians, and that burial rites were accompanied by music.
dehulá See d!ula.
dolofán ‘fat, plump’. An expressive equivalent of durduliu (see). The
root dol! ‘fat’ is isolated, and intervocalic f indicates an original velar spirant
(laryngeal). It is possible to see in dol! a variant of dor!, dur! as in durduliu,
which are semantically identical. See also dulu/&.
f!rî$m! ‘a small piece of; a small quantity’. Alb. thërrimë, with similar
meaning. The correspondence Rom. f – Alb. th (as English th in thin) speaks
of an old phoneme *X, a velar spirant or laryngeal, held responsible for the
alternating f/h/v in Romanian v. f/h/th in Albanian. (In this sense, see also
v&taf). The forms are archaic, as proved by the verbal derivatives a f&rîma,
a sf&rîma. No clear etymon, but the indigenous origin is beyond any
reasonable doubt. See also Reichenkron7 1966: 118–119.
7
Günter Reichenkron, despite his good contributions to identifying and analysing
the archaic heritage of Romanian, seems to have become completely ignored
during the last decade. It is true his etymological approach may be debatable,
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ferí, also reflexive a se feri ‘to avoid, to stay/stand/keep aside (a danger
etc.)’. Obscure. Initial f indicates an initial velar spirant (laryngeal) *X, so
the archaic form should be reconstructed as X!R! ‘to avoid (a danger), stay
afar from/of’, and must have referred to prehistoric hunting or war state.
fi#e Now only in expressions like a face fi/e ‘to be whimsical, to expect others
make the first step in an action’. Expressive form, related with fî/ and fî/îi.
fîs!1 1. The fish Cobitis taenia; 2. a cheerful, sprighty person. The usual
form for the fish is zvîrlug&, in relation with zvîrli, azvîrli ‘to cast, to throw’;
also with the meaning ‘cheerful, sprighty person’. The form is isolated,
improbably derived from fîs, onomatopoeic, imitative for any fizzing sound;
the verb is a fîsîí ‘to fizz’. A relation may possibly be if we accept an
original meaning ‘a quick move’, hence the sound of a quick move, which
may explain both the name of fish Cobitis taenia and ‘cheerful, sprighty
person’. Initial indicates an initial velar spirant (laryngeal) *X, which later
changed into f, v, h and ( in the indigenous elements of Romanian. The
archaic form must have then been *X!s ‘quick, fast; a quick move’.
fîs!2 ‘a small, quick bird, similar to skylark, of the family Anthus.
Associated to the meaning ‘quick’ of fîs&1.
fî# ‘quick move’; hence a (se) fî/îi ‘to move to and fro’ (usually
pejoratively). Incorrectly assumed a simple onomatopoeia in DEX and other
works. Initial f indicates and archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) *X, later
changed into f, h, v and (. In such a view, see also ha/ and ho/ ‘a thief’.
fî#îí ‘to move to and fro’. See fî/.
fl!mî$nd ‘hungry’. Root fla!/fl&! has 2 basic meanings: 1. ‘mouth – to
speak’; 2. ‘mouth – hungry’. Initial f reflects the archaic velar spirant *X > f,
h, v and (. The archaic form must have been *X!L! ‘mouth’ – ‘to eat; to be
hungry’ and ‘to speak, to gossip’. See also fleac, fleanc& and flec&ri.
nevertheless his list of archaic elements – even if incomplete – is not at all

outdated, and may still offer many interesting topics for further discussions.
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fleac ‘unimportant thing or details’; in the plural ‘simple gossiping, just
words’. The original meaning is connected to the sphere ‘to speak, to
gossip’, for which see fleanc& and flec&ri. See also fl&mînd.
fleánc! Pejorative for ‘mouth’. See flec&ri.
flec!ri ‘to gossip, to speak nonsense’. The archaic root fle! is related to
the meaning ‘mouth’ – ‘to speak, to gossip’ (hence also Alb. flet ‘he/she
speaks’) and ‘mouth – be hungry’ (see fl&mînd above). Romanian preserves,
via Thracian, both semantic spheres: one the one hand fl&mînd ‘hungry’, and
fleac, fleanc& and flec&ri on the other. Initial f in all these forms stands for
an archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) X > f, h, v and (. the root was *X!L!
‘mouth; to speak; be hungry’, also preserved in Alb. flet ‘he/she speaks’.
fle# Pejorative and expressive: ‘naïve, a little bit stupid’. Seems derived
from the same root as fleac, fleanc& and flec&ri, with the basic meaning
‘person who gossips, unable to express himself/herself’.
flit ‘muzzle’. Regional and dialectal for bot. With the basic meaning
‘animal mouth’ closely related with fleanc& and flec&ri.
fluier ‘a flute’. Alb. flojere ‘flute’. Seems a backformation from the verb
a fluiera ‘to whistle’. The relation with Lat. flo, fl1re is doubtful or, if a
colloquial Latin form is acceptable as origin, the phonetic details are
difficult to reconstruct. Cf. fluture and a flutura.
fluiera ‘to whistle’. See fluier.
flútur(e) ‘butterfly’. Also NP Flutur(e), Fluturescu etc. Closely related
with a flutura ‘to wave, to flutter’. Currently unexplained. There must be an
etymological relation with Eng. fly, to fly, to flutter as a common
Indo!European heritage. Compare the parallels fluier – a fluiera v. flutur(e) –
a flutura; and Eng. fly, to fly – to flutter. See also fulg.
fluturá See flutur(e). See also fulg.
fri"c! ‘cream’, specifically the fresh fat part of milk, which – if whisked
– the specific milk cream is obtained. The term is archaic and closely
connected to milk production, where the Romanian terminology is basically
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Latin and indigenous (Thracian). Initial f indicates an original velar spirant
(laryngeal), so a root *XR! should be postulated. The analogy with a freca <
Lat. frecare does not seem acceptable, even if not excluded.
foac The fish Squalius leuciscus. Obscure. Initial f, if accepting the
hypothesis of an indigenous element, which is most probable, stands for the
archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) X. Isolated, no related form identifiable.
fúf! 1. ‘small fish’, especially fish fry (Leucaspius delineatus); 2. a
whore. Obscure. The term seems archaic, and very probably indigenous.
Initial and internal f may stand for the original velar spirant (laryngeal), so
the original root must have been *X!X! ‘small’, ‘small fish’, then
pejoratively ‘whore’.
fuiór ‘tow; hemp or flax bundle’. Obscure, presumably indigenous.
Initial f stands for an archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) *X.
fulg ‘flake’. Must be related with fluture, a flutura.
Fulga NP, mainly family name. See fulg. As many family names, ending
a rather reflects the invariable definite article !a.
hai ‘let’s go!’. Also variants like haide, haidem, haidi. Spread all over
southeast Europe (South Slavic and Turkish haydi). Held for an
onomatopoeia in DEX and other dictionaries, with the suggestion that all
these languages borrowed the form from Turkish, which is at least
debatable, if not outright erroneous. • Obviously South Slavic haj, hajdi,
hajdem(o) is an interference with the forms of iti, idem, idemo, idi! ‘to go’,
therefore Turkish haydi seems rather a borrowing from Bulgarian and/or
Serbian, with haj+(i)di (the imperative of iti), also mirrored in Romanian in
haide, haidi, haidem (hai + idemo ‘we go’). The basic form hai is rather
remnant of an old verb with the meaning ‘to go’, imp. ‘go!’; also initial h
stands for an original velar spirant (laryngeal), and the forms may be
globally related to the same root as Lat. e4 (< *ey4), 5s, 5re ‘to go’ < IE *ey/i
‘to go’, which would satisfy the meaning, and partially the existence of
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initial h, which does not seem etymological (if accepting this hypothesis);
alternatively, hai reflects another root, with the basic meaning ‘to go’, which
eventually interfered with those quoted above.
haihui adv. Especially in constructions like a umbla haihui ‘to err, to go
to and fro, without any plan’. Expressive, with reduplicated base haihui, for
which see hai and hui, also vui. This form, together with a hui/vui, huiet/
vuiet, huidui reflect the alternating velar spirant developed in Romanian as f/
h/v, sometimes also (. See hai and hui/vui.
halí ‘to eat, to devour’ (expressive, colloquial; also referring to animals,
especially to wolves). Alb. ha ‘he/she eats’, both forms related with hame(
and h&mesit ‘hungry’.
hame" ‘hungry’. Alb. hamës ‘eater, greedy’. The root ha! is also
preserved in Albanian: ha ‘he eats’; hejë ‘food’, corresponding to Rom. a
hali (colloquial, pejorative, as compared to a mînca < manducare, the usual
form), h&mesit ‘hungry’. Initial h! leads to an archaic velar spirant
(laryngeal). No clear etymon, but these archaic forms show that phoneme h
was inherited in Romanian from the substratum. A relationship with Lat.
edo ‘I eat’ does not seem possible.
ha# Interjection with the basic meaning ‘to take abruptly, to seize, to
steal’ as confirmed by the derived verb a înh&/a ‘to seize’ and the probable
parallel ho/ ‘thief’, with the alternating a/o. Phoneme h would indicate an
original velar spirant (laryngeal) in Thracian. DEX suggests an
onomatopoeia for this form, which is of course possible for an archaic
period (as in many other cases), yet the parallels ha/, a înh&/a and ho/ show
that the meaning ‘to seize, to steal’ is well consolidated and is definitely old,
if not archaic, prehistoric. A second root ha/, h&/ is in h&/i( and NM Ha/eg,
with seemingly a different meaning, also well consolidated from prehistoric
times.
Ha#eg NM Related with h&/i( ‘thicket; bushes’; the root ha//h&/ ‘thicket’
should be discriminated against root ha//h&/ ‘to seize, to steal’ in ha/, ho/
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and the verb a înh&/a, unless an archaic, prehistoric evolution between the
two semantic spheres may be reconstructed.
H!b!"e"ti NL Derived from a supposed personal name as most forms in
e(ti. The root h&b must be related with h&u ‘abyss’ and hobîc ‘a hollow, a
pit’; NL Hobi/a. Initial h reflects the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) *X.
h!mesit ‘hungry’. Same root as hame(.
h!rean (rare, dial.) ‘whey’. Alb. hirrë ‘whey’. Etymon unclear, but
archaic, beyond any doubt.
H!"date NFl, NL (CJ, near Turda; HD). If not a deformation of German
Hochstadt, which is doubtful, then indigenous. The archaic suffix ate would
also indicate an archaic origin. Initial h! would indicate an original velar
spirant (laryngeal), as quite often in the indigenous elements. No clear
etymon. The Preie. suffix ate was analysed by Battisti, Sostrati e parastrati
33. Cf. H&(ma(, hojma and hojmal&u.
H!"ma" NM Seems related with H&(date, hojma and hojmal&u; if a
relation with German hoch is in view, then it should be accepted for all these
forms. Currently, they are held for unknown origin or not analysed at all.
h!# ‘bridle; reins’. Must be akin to ha/ and ho/, also with the verb a
înh&/a, with the basic meaning ‘to fix, to seize’.
h!#á" ‘a path in abrupt, mountainous locations’. Must be the same root
as in h&/i(.
h!#i" ‘thicket’. The same root as in NM Ha/eg.
h!u ‘abyss’. Root ha/h& reflects an initial velar spirant (laryngeal), *Xa!
with the reconstructable meaning ‘hollow; abyss’. Gh. Mu!u (1995)
analysed similar forms in the Pre!Hellenic and Pre!Semitic area. Cf.
H&b&(e(ti, hobîc, Hobi/a and zg&u and v&g&un&.
hîrîi ‘to rattle; to growl’. Akin to a sfîrîi ‘to sizzle’; the alternating h – sf
indicate an original velar spirant (laryngeal). May be ultimately related to
Latin !"##$#%& ‘to snarl’. The root hîr/sfîr! is imitative, and had an
onomatopoeic origin, as many other forms.
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hîr"i ‘to wore out’. Colloquial and expressive. Akin to hîrîi and hîr(îi.
hîr"îi ‘to scrape, to grate’. Akin to hîr"i.
Hîr%ova NL Dobrudja. Reflects ancient Carsium, with an unexplained
change k > h, and Slavic suffix -ova. We assume, on the one hand, that – in
several instances – phoneme h is inherited from the substratum, and, on the
other hand, that in alternance with f, v and zero, it reflects a Late Thracian
laryngeal or velar spirant (N. D. Andreev’s terminology). • Iordan, TopR 89
(quoting Bogrea) refers to cîr(e ‘peaks’, but he does not even try to explain
the alternating c–h, which is not so simple. In their turn, cîr(e may be
indigenous too (see Cîrpa, first of all, and the other placenames derived
from Preie. *KR!, *GR! ‘stone, cliff’). Ancient spelling Carsium, with c
instead of an original velar spirant, is normal, as such a phoneme was absent
in both Greek and Latin.
hoásp! The cover of cereal grains and other vegetables, like peas or
beans. Seems related with Gr. 6789:;<, the plant Vigna sinensis but also
referring to other plants. Hence is Rom. fasole ‘bean’ and generally
post!classical Latin phas=lus, hence spread in other languages as well, e.g.
Czech fazole etc. The Greek form is Preie. Initial h in Romanian usually
reflects an archaic velar spirant *X. In the case of a Preie. elements, the root
*X!!S, Thr. *Xs > Rom. *hos, later hoas in prefinal syllable required by the
feminine gender, may reflect a specific archaic sound. The correspondence
Rom. h – Gr. 6 is not usual. See also p&staie and p&stra.
Hobí#a NL See hobîc.
hobîc ‘a hollow, a pit’. Related with NL Hobi/a, further with h&u
‘abyss’. Initial h reflects the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) X.
hojma adv. ‘continuously, repeatedly’. Unexplained, presumably
indigenous, with initial h, a former velar spirant (or laryngeal). Ukr. ho$ma
is from Romanian. See H"!date and H"!ma! above and hojmal&u below.
hojmal!u ‘big, very tall’ (pejoratively, about too tall people). Seems
related with hojma and NM H&(ma(. If we accept the archaic opposition
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‘deep’ – ‘high’ (i.e. the extremes), then a relation with h&u ‘abyss’ is
probable.
hotar ‘border, fronteer’. Usually held for a borrowing from Hungarian
hotár, even if the origin of the Hungarian form is obscure. There are two
Albanian forms which support the indigenous origin in Romanian: hatër, (1)
‘border, fronteer’, and (2) ‘pleasure’; the second meaning shows that in
Albanian two initial forms merged into one, one archaic, common to
Romanian, the other one of Turkish origin (hatır ‘pleasure’), Rom. hatîr. In
our view, Rom. hotar and Alb. hatër ‘border, fronteer, margin’ belong to the
same archaic heritage; Hung. hotár is borrowed from Romanian8. • Initial h
speaks of the same velar spirant *X (or laryngeal) later treated in Romanian
as f/h/v and as f/h/th in Albanian. For this treatment see f&rîm& and v&taf.
hot!rî ‘to decide’; initially ‘to draw a line, border in an action’. Derived
from hotar.
ho# ‘thief’. Closely related with ha/ and verb a înh&/a, with alternating
a/o.
hudubáie ‘big house or dwelling’. The root hud ‘big, large’ is best
reflected in huidum&.
hudubleáj! ‘large, prey bird’. Related with hudubaie and huidum&.
huhurez ‘eagle owl’ (the bird Strix). From the same root as huí, with
reduplication. The form originated in an imitative interjection.
huí ‘to hum, to din; to roar’; also a vui. The alternating h/v, sometimes
also f and ( (#), is the indication of an initial velar spirant (laryngeal) in a
reconstructable root *Xu ‘to hum, to roar’. The derived verb, be
reduplication and internal haplology/alternance, is a huidui (< huihui); cf.
haihui and huhurez, also r&fui.
8
Despite the insistent and repetitive hypothesis, advocated by most linguists,
Hung. hotár ‘fronteer’ is most probably borrowed from Romanian, not vice!versa.
See under entry hot&rî.
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huidúm! ‘big, fat or very tall person’. The root *hu(i)d ‘big, large, tall’
is met in hudubaie ‘big house, big dwelling’, hudubleaj& ‘big, prey bird’
and, with the generic sense of the root, in huidum&. Initial h reflects an
archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) *X. Otherwise, the forms are isolated in
Romanian, and no further relation has been identified so far.
hutupí ‘to eat gluttonously, to swallow up’. With a different vowel
grade, must be related with hali, h&mesit, root *Xa, *Xu ‘to eat; to be
hungy’.
hututúi ‘amazed’. Alb. hutón ‘to amaze’. The prototype was *huthutúi,
then by haplology hututui. Etymon unknown, forms isolated in Romanian
and Albanian.
înfofolí ‘to put many, think clothes on’. Prefix în! and fuf&, pejorative for
‘clothes, cloth’ (also means ‘whore’). See also în!coto(m&na, with a similar
meaning.
înh!#a ‘to seize’. Derived from ha/.
leh!i vb. ‘to speak nonsense; to prattle’. Related with Alb. leh ‘to bark;
to bay, to yelp’. Unclear etymon; intervocalic h reflects an archaic velar
spirant (laryngeal), cf. h&mesit, Hîr(ova; in this peerspective, related with
le(ina, with alternating h/(, another proof – if accepted – of the original
velar spirant.
le"iál! Now obsolete and dialectal: ‘state of weakness or sickness’. See
le(ina and le(ie.
le"íe Now obsolete. A variant of le(ial&.
le"ina ‘to lose conscience, to faint’. Sometimes held for a derivative
from le( ‘corpse’, of Turkish origin, and spread in many southeast European
languages. Russu, on the opposite side, assumes that the similarity is
fortuitous. The verb is obviously derived from the same root as le(ial& and
le(ie. Also, all these forms with root le(! are related with lihni (see). The
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alternating h/( (in other cases, the alternating phonems are f/v/h and () are
remnants of the original velar spirant (laryngeal).
lihní ‘to feal weak or without power, especially when hungry’. The root
lih! is related with root le( in le(ial&, le(ie and le(ina. The alternating (/h
reflect the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal).
matahál! (colloquial and pejorative) ‘too fat and/or tall person; a giant,
any giant being in the tales’. The same root in the verb m&t&h&í, and
otherwise obscure. Phoneme h reflects the archaic velar spirant (laryngeal).
A root mat! ‘huge, very big, giant’ must be postulated.
m!t!h!í ‘to move with difficulty, e.g. a giant or huge person’. See
matahal&.
meteáhn! ‘a fault, a flaw; a bad habit’. Phoneme h leads towards an
original velar spirant. The form is related with matahal& and m&t&h&i(see).
The modern meaning is derived from m&t&h&i ‘to move slowly, with
hesitations’.
mihál# The river prey fish Lota lota. Obscure. Definitely, there cannot be
any connection with root mih! in personal and Biblical name Mihai
‘Michael’. Phoneme h suggests an original velar spirant *X, which resulted
in Romanian alternating f, v, h and (. A root *miX! should therefore be
postulated, with unknown meaning.
mîhní ‘to make someone sad or depressed’; (passively) ‘to be sad or
depressed’. Obscure and isolated. Phoneme h indicates an original velar
spirant, which leads to reconstructing a root *m!X! ‘sorrow, grief’.
proháb ‘fly opening’ (of male trousers)’. Isolated and obscure form.
Given its situation, very probably indigenous. If so, phoneme h reflects the
archaic velar spirant *X. A root *proX! ‘opening’ may be hypothesised.
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pufní ‘to snort; to burst (into laughing), as in a pufní în rîs. The same
origin and etymon like bufní, with alternating b/p; phoneme f reflects the
archaic velar spirant *X.
puh!í ‘to push our air with force; to inflate, to release air with force’.
From the same root as pufni and bufni, from an archaic root *b(h)uX, see
buf, buh. Seemingly an archaic Proto!Boreal root *PuX ‘to push air by
force, to blow’ as in Finnish puhua ‘to speak’. If so, this example, among
others, may be a decisive argument in favour of an archaic Proto!Boreal
idiom as described by Andreev and also by Bojan #op (even if he has not
used this term).
r!fuí (mainly reflexive a se r&fuí) ‘to settle accounts’; a se r&fuí cu ‘to

fight with’. Built with prefix ra, r& and the same root in vui, with alternating
f/v < velar spirant *X.
r!mf See rîmf.
remf See rîmf.
rizáfc! See rizeafc&.
rizeáfc! A species of herring or mackerel of the Black Sea, which
migrates to the Danube for food and reproduction; the Alosa caspia
nordmanni. The root riz, ris in attested in numerous Thracian elements, and
is difficult to accept any other origin of this form. Cf. NP Rizea, Rizescu.
Phoneme f probably reflects the archaic velar spirant *X.
rîmf sg. The plant Aristolochia clematitis. Hasdeu already assumed an
indigenous origin by approaching it to Thracian rhomphaia ‘a spear’, from
spearlike form of its leaves. Later, G. Meyer compared Romanian form to
Alb. rrufé, rrëfé, rrfé ‘a lightning, a thunder’. N. Dr"ganu refers to
Transylvanian Saxon (s"sesc) Rimf%rt ‘plant Tanacetum vulgare’. As the
form is dialectal now, a Saxon origin cannot be excluded, yet the indigenous
origin is most probable.
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sc!f!lie See c&f&lie.
schindúc The plant Conioselinum vaginatu. Related with schindúf, the
plant Trigonella foenum graecum. The root schin! in these names of plants
is isolated. The indigenous origin is probable.
schindúf The plant Trigonella foenum graecum. The final f would
indicate an original velar spirant. Related with schinduc.
sf!rîma See f&rîm&, f&rîma; cf. sugruma and sugu(a for s(u)! as prefix,
for which see su!.
sfîrc ‘a prominence, usually nipple or teat’. The meaning ‘prominece’ of
root sfîr should be discriminated against the meaning in sfîrîi and hîrîi,
related to noise or specific sounds. In both cases though, phoneme f
witnesses an initial velar spirant (laryngeal), which leads to reconstructing
the basic root *sX%r! ‘prominence, nipple, teat’. The same root in sfîrl& and
probably in zvîrlug& too, if not related with sfîrîi.
sfîrîi Akin to hîrîi, with the alternating h – sf, indicating the initial
existence of a velar spirant.
sfîrl! (dialectal) 1. ‘flick; snub’; 2. ‘muzzle’. Must be closely related
with sfîrc.
sfrijí ‘to lose vigour or power; to get lean’. Isolated, presumably
indigenous. Phoneme f would indicate an original velar spirant, and a
possible root *sXr! ‘lean, lacking power’.
"ufán ‘a stake or pole to which the fishing net is fixed’. Obscure,

perhaps built with a root (u, which may be the same as in (ubred and in (ui.
Phoneme f would indicate an original velar spirant (laryngeal) *X.
teaf!r ‘healthy, strong’. Definitely indigenous, etymon unknown. Vowel

f probably reflects and original velar spirant (laryngeal), therefore the
prototype may be reconstructed *teX! ‘strong, healthy’.
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teárf! 1. ‘rag, cloth; duster’; 2. ‘bride’s dowry’ (in some dialects only,
obviously derived from the meaning ‘clothes’, which then got a pejorative
connotation in most dialects, including literary Romanian). Related to tîrf&
‘whore, harlot’ and the verb(s) tîrî, tîrîi, tîr(i.
terfelí ‘to soil, to defile’ < lit. ‘to drag along; to turn to worn out
clothes’. Related with tearf&, further with tîrî, tîrîi, tîr(i.
tîlhár ‘robber, bandit’. Isolated, presumably archaic. The basic root tal/
t%l ‘to rob, to steal’ may be the same as in t&láni/& ‘a whore’, and
discriminated against other forms with the same root, and spread mainly in
placenames.
tîrf! ‘whore, harlot’. See tîrî.
tîrî ‘to drag (along); to pull (along); to crawl (reflexive: a se tîrî). Also tîrîi
(same meaning); tîr( ‘a small, undeveloped bush or tree’ (lit. ‘which crawls on
earth’); also ‘haypole’ and, in some dialects, ‘a broom made up of tree
branches’; tîr(í = tîrî, tîrîi, especially used with reference to dragging legs
when walking with difficulty; tîrf& ‘whore, harlot’. Also related: tearf& and
terfeli. • The verb a tîrî is commonly held for a borrowing from Slavic tr>ti,
even if this puts major problems of phonetic evolution, seemingly ignored by
most linguists; additionally, the obvious family of derivatives from the same
root is rarely invoked, but this is the only key to understanding the origin of
these forms. As modern distribution shows, the basic meaning must have been
associated to ‘dragging game after hunt’, i.e. ‘to drag along a dead, heavy
animal’ (like a boar or bear), and thus the verbs in this family clearly belong to
an archaic activity. Also, as proved by other examples, the alternating (/f (as in
tîr(i – tîrf&) show the eixstence of an original velar spirant (laryngeal) *X, a
specific phenomenon of Thracian, and later reflected as alternating h/f/( in
Romanian. • The ultimate origin of the root tîr must be Preie. *TR! ‘earth,
cliff, stone’. From the same root is also derived Lat. terra, in relation with
tellus < Preie. *TL, as variant of *TR.
tîrîí See tîrî.
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tîr" 1. a small coniferous bush, usually a small, underdeveloped one; 2.
the rod in the dance of C"lu!ari; 3. vine prop. 4. a primitive broom made up
of small tree branches (in some dialects). C. Dominte, Symposia
Thracologica 7/1989: 455 suggests a relation with Gr. 2?@8;<, furthermore
he also suggests a borrowing from Thracian in Greek. It rather belongs to
the family quoted under tîrî.
tîr"í See tîrî.
tuf! ‘bush’. Der. tufi( ‘a group of bushes, bushes taken generically’.
Unknown origin, probably akin to Old French tof(f)e ‘tuft’ > Eng. tuft.
Further analysis difficult. Phoneme f may stand for an original velar spirant
(laryngeal), but even so no further parallel available. Substratum origin
highly probable.
tuflí (rare, expressive) ‘to put a cap on one’s head with an abrupt move’.
Pejorative meaning; probably derived from tuf&, so the initial meaning must
have been ‘to put a bush (ironical for a cap) on one’s head’.
#î"ní ‘to gush, to spout’. The root /î( is held in DEX for simply
onomatopoeic, which may be possible, as in many cases, with primitive IE
and Preie. roots. Nevertheless the existence of this root in /i(tar excludes a
simply onomatopoeic origin in Romanian.
vatr! ‘hearth’. Archaic, connected to the sacred place of fire in any

house. Alb. vatrë. Beyond any doubt indigenous, with many hypotheses
regarding its origin. Must be related to Lat. 1trium, with the remnant of an
original velar spirant (laryngeal) in Thracian and early Romanian, as proved
by other examples as well, see the discussions under v&taf/v&tah, ciuf,
ciufuli, ceaf&, hotar etc. The archaic velar spirant (laryngeal) resulted in
Romanian f, v, h and zero; and in f, h, th, v and zero in Albanian. The
reconstructable form was *Xatr% > vatr& and Lat. 1trium, with 1 for the
initial sequence *Xa!. • Eric P. Hamp labelled the modern territory of the
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ancient Thracians as the areal vatr&!urd&!strung& (Linguistique Balkanique

20, 1–2/ 1977: 113–117). • Der. v&trai.
v!g!ún! ‘gully, ravine’. Pl. is –uni, rarely –une. Built with suffix -un-(&,
e) and a root v&g, which – if we start from the quite frequent existence of
forms once containing the velar spirant *X, may also admit that modern
initial v may reflect the original *X, as in vatr& or vui (also hui). If so, as we
are inclined to believe, then the first part of v&g&un& is related with h&u
‘abyss’ (see). We may thus reconstruct an archaic root *Xa! ‘abyss; gully,
ravine’, common to both v&g&un& and h&u.
v!taf ‘(historical, obsolete) supervisor of servants at a king’s court or in
a monastery, i.e. a kind of head of all servants; (late Middle Ages) a leader
of the court servants or group of military; an important character of the
dance of C&lu(ari’. Local, dialectal variants: v&tah, v&tav, v&ta(, v&taj; NP
V&tafu, V&t&(escu; borrowed in some neighbouring languages as Ukr.
vataha, Pol. wataha, Bulg. vatah, S.!Cr. vatak. The word is archaic, and
presumably continues the ancient Thracian forms spelled ABCB8DE;<,
FGBCB8DE;<, an epithet of Heros; also NP ABE2ED9<, Vitupaus, Vittopus etc.
The forms must be related with Lat. vat=s, Germanic Woden etc. and in
Thracian must have got the meaning ‘leader, spiritual leader at the king’s
court’. • The alternating final f/v/h/j/( reflect the remnants of an archaic velar
spirant (laryngeal); notably the alternating f/h and f/( (as in v&taf v. NP
V&t&(escu) is relevant.
v!t!"i ‘to lead, to supervise (a group of persons)’ See v&taf.
v!trái ‘a poker’ (for fire). Derived from vatr& as m&lai from mal; v&trai
lit. means ‘an object, a rod for cleaning the hearth’. See vatr&.
v!tui ‘oneyear old lamb’. Alb. vetul, ftuHë, ftujë; the oldest forms must
be with initial f/ft, which would again indicate an original velar spirant
(laryngeal), form vetul would rather witness a Romanian influence. The
initial v/v& and Alb. f/ft indicate an original velar spirant (or laryngeal), as
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initially in vatr& (< *Xatr%), therefore *Xatu < IE *wet, *wete!s ‘year’, in
laryngeal theory *Xwet.
vui ‘to hum, to din; to roar’; also a hui, with alternating f/v, the
indication of a probable velar spirant (laryngeal) in Thracian.
Vuia NP From the same root as a vui.
zbor"i 1. ‘to get angry, to be furious’; 2. (about animals or birds) ‘to

ruffle, to bristle up’ (= zbîrli, also see); 3. (about food) ‘to deteriorate’.
Derived from bor( and bor(i (see). This form, which partially interferes with
zbîrli, is another argument against the hypothesis of a Slavic origin of bor(.
See also boarf&.
zdro"í (rare in literary Romanian) ‘to grind, to squeeze’. Related with
zdreli and zdruncina. Suffix ( may reflect an original velar spirant
(laryngeal) as witnessed by parallel derivatives like v&táf – v&t&(í
(alternating h/(). The prototype must have been *zdroX, *zdruX. Further
discussions under zdreli and zdruncina.
zg!u ‘a woman’s belly’, especially the uterus; sometimes also the belly
of an animal; generically ‘a hollow’. Definitely an archaic term, and
connected to the sacred creeds in the woman’s magic uterus. Built with
prefix z/s and the same root as in h&u and v&g&un&, both from *Xa, *X%
‘deep, hollow’.
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100 Slavic Basic Roots
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Introduction
In a series of papers and other studies I tried to approach two major, and
much debated, topics: the origin of Sl. s!to (and of other much debated
forms), and a hopefully closer (and better) analysis of Slavic ethnogenesis. I
shall not repeat, of course, what I wrote in those quoted papers, but would
like to sum up the basic ideas, and to attempt some fine-tuning of relevant
data. In the final part of this paper I shall present a selective list of 100 basic
Slavic roots. The selection is subjective, but will hopefully show the
relevant data for understanding the essential reference points in early Slavic
history.
Our approach is mainly that of a linguist, without ignoring historical or
archaeological data.
Once again on Sl. s!to
In one of the quoted studies I advanced the hypothesis that Sl. s!to is a
borrowing from either a northernmost Thracian dialect or from Proto-
Romanian. In the third, posthumous, volume of France Bezlaj’s Etimolo"ki
slovar slovenskega jezika, letters P–S: 318 (dopolnila in uredila Marko Snoj
in Metka Furlan) we may read:
“!e manj utemeljeno je mnenje, po katerem je psl. *s!to izposojeno iz
dak. *su(m)t# < *$%tóm, kar naj bi se ohranilo v rum. sút& in trak. atpn.
'()*+(), (Paliga, SR, XXXVI, 349 ss.).”
I hesitated for years to comment editors’s view on my previous paper in
Slavisti-na Revija. I shall perhaps disappoint both Prof. Snoj and Prof.
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Furlan, but I am compelled to add that, out of all the papers, studies or
books dedicated to the complex topic of the numerals in the Indo-European
languages, in general, and Slavic, in particular, my paper is – I am afraid –
the only one which is coherent and brings forth arguments that indeed
Sl. s!to is a borrowing from either North Thracian or Proto-Romanian1. I
agree with the detail that in this study I concentrated mainly on the situation
of Sl. s!to and just tangentially to other borrowings from North Thracian or
Proto-Romanian into PES2. I cannot present here the quite extensive list of
such words, but some relevant data must be briefly analysed, first of all
those which support and confirm that Thr. and/or Proto-Romanian u was
reflected as PES !. One example is obvious: colloquial Latin *cumatra
(classical commater) > Proto-Romanian cum.tr& > PES k!motra. The case
of cum&tr& is relevant, because its clear origin helps reconstructing the
details of phonetic evolution.
It would be of course interesting to compile a more comprehensive list of
such early borrowings in PES. This is a task of another study, now already
published3. Nevertheless, some essential points should be clarified now
(even if repeating what already stated before). It is thus sufficient to have a
brief look at the status of s!to among the other Slavic numerals, first of all
to compare s!to with the situation of de-s/t0 and ty-s1"ta ! and, as already
stated, one may note the essential difference against s!to: not only the
presence of ! against / and ! , but also the obvious noun-like character of
s!to as compared to the other numerals. This is EXACTLY the situation in
Romanian: the numerals for ‘ten’, ‘one hundred’ and ‘one thousand’ ARE
1
This was indeed my original phrasing: “Sl. s!to is a borrowing from either North
Thracian or Proto-Romanian”.
2
PES is here for Pre-Expansion Slavic as already used in all my previous papers
dedicated to this topic.
3
An Etymological Dictionary of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian,
Bucharest 2006: Funda!ia "i Editura Evenimentul.
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NOUNS, in fact4. Perhaps this is not very clear if we analyse zece ‘ten’ (<
Lat. decem), but it becomes immediately clear if we note that the forms for
20 etc. behave like nouns: dou&zeci (dou& zeci), lit. ‘two tens’, of feminine
gender; similarly, and clearer o sut& and o mie ‘one hundred’ and ‘one
thousand’ respectively.
Slavic s!to and Romanian sut& are, ultimately, ‘intrusive’ in both Slavic
and Romanian, respectively. It would be just simple ignorance to not note
the obvious similarity of these situations. And we are again compelled to
revert to Giuliano Bonfante’s brilliant study on the earliest influence of
Romanian (Proto-Romanian) on Proto-Slavic (initially published in 1966,
then a chapter in his reference book Studi Romeni).
The overall situation of Sl. s!to would be of course much clearer if we
tempted to analyse it in the context of the numerous Thracian and/or Proto-
Romanian elements in Slavic. The epithet numerous may seem abusive, so I
shall try to explain and clarify why I habe used this formula.
The Slavic ‘Homeland’ and Slavic Ethnogenesis
I shall attempt to only sum up the essential data of a still debated and
debatable topic. I tried to resume there the numereous hypotheses, with
variants and subvariants, of the Slavic ethnogenesis. Very briefly, our
basic view is:
1. The Slavic ethnogenesis may be fairly well circumscribed to the
interval from the 4th to the 6th century A.D. Earlier archaeological data do
4
It is hopefully clear that I do not wish to re-write the basic grammar of Romanian,
but just to note that the Romanian numeral has some peculiarites, which have not
yet been clearly analysed. Re-phrasing, I may write: the Romanian numerals from
‘one’ to ‘nine’ reflect the basic Latin numerals; the forms for ‘ten’, ‘one hundred’
and ‘one thousand’ are numerals with noun form, out of which only sut! is
indigenous (Thracian), all the other are of Latin origin. Also, the forms for 20 etc.
(e.g. dou!zeci etc.) show that zece ‘10’ behaves like a noun.
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not allow us to postulate a Slavic ethnic group as we know it from earliest
historical documents.
2. The Slavic ethnogenesis should be analysed and considered in the light
of a larger phenomenon of re-shaping the linguistic and ethnic realities of
that historical period. From this point of view, the Slavs were a component
of the major and vast ethno-linguistic changes of the interval from the 4th to
the 10th century A.D.
3. Perhaps the oldest theory, namely the Balto-Slavic theory, is the best,
with some corrections, allowed by the recent discoveries in this field. We
assume that the interval circumscribed from the 4th to the 6th centuries A.D.
witnessed a cohabitation, difficult to analyse in very detail, but clear enough
by interdisciplinary analysis, of three satem groups, which later led to the
Slavic ethnicum: South Baltic, West Iranic and North Thracian. We tried to
prove that the Slavic nucleus is presented by the South Baltic component
(and this is why we argumented that the oldest Balto-Slavic is basically the
best one). To these three satem components, a Germanic component was
later added, and THIS IS THE STAGE WE KNOW FROM EARLIEST
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS BEGINNING WITH THE 6TH CENTURY
A.D. In the course of time, East Romance (Proto-Romanian) elements were
also borrowed and integrated in the Slavic vocabulary.
4. Aleksandar Loma is the linguists who has lately brought forth the most
decisive arguments that we should speak of Proto-Slavic A and Proto-Slavic
B (Loma’s paper for the International Congress of Slavicists, Ljubljana,
August 2003). In Loma’s view, we should approach Proto-Slavic (or, better
perhaps, PES) as an agglutination of two satem idioms. This is, but
otherwise put, what we have been argumenting over the last years: Proto-
Slavic, which got its contours to an idiom we know from the second part of
the 9th century A.D., is an amalgamation of THREE satem components:
South Baltic, North Thracian and West Iranic, with its South Baltic
component as, we may say, its basic nucleus, and with North Thracian and
West Iranic components as secondary components. In traditional linguistic
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terms, South Baltic (or, hopefully clearer put, its more southern part of what
was once defined as Balto-Slavic) is the stratum, and North Thracian and
West Iranic represent the superstratum languages.
5. There is a third superstratum language, Germanic, which is also
identifiable in a lingustic analysis.
6. And there was also the Uralic adstratum, loosely identifiable in some
probably related forms like k!2iga, k2iga, Hung. könyv.
From the archaeological point of view, God"owski is perhaps the most
relevant in also contouring the idea that the Slavic ethnogenesis cannot be
dated earlier than the 4th century A.D., and which should be envisaged as a
‘mobile ethnogenesis’, i.e. the Slavic ethnogenesis consolidated and got its
contours known from the earliest documents a short before and some time
after the beginning of the expansion.
Compiling a basic set of Proto-slavic roots
The following lexicon of 100 Slavic roots is, inevitably, subjective.

Nevertheless I have tried to work out a coherent set of rules to reflect:
• the basic vocabulary covering the essential activities of man in an
archaic, traditional society;
• the main and secondary components of the Proto-Slavic vocabulary:
South Baltic, North Thracian, West Iranic, Germanic and East Romance
(Proto-Romanian).
With these in view, we assume that this basic lexicon definitely confirms
both God"owski’s archaeological analysis and also Aleksandar Loma’s
theory of Proto-Slavic A and Proto-Slavic B. In traditional linguistic terms,
we assume that:
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- The Slavic stratum is represented by a southern branch of the
reconstructable Baltic-Slavic common Indo-European heritage. This would
roughly be Loma’s Proto-Slavic A.
- The substratum is represented by certain elements the etymology of
which is isolated, and may sometimes have associations with Fenno-Ugrian.
- The adstratum is represented by north Thracian and east Iranic
elements; this latter component is Loma’s Proto-Slavic B.
- The superstratum is represented by Germanic and Early Romance (i.e.
Proto-Romanian) elements.
In Loma’s terms, we assume therefore that there were at least three basic
elements, which contoured Slavic as we know it from earliest documents:
(1) the south component of the Balto-Slavic heritage = the stratum; (2)
North Thracian and East Iranic elements = the adstratum; (3) Germanic and
East Romance elements = the adstratum. To these, we must also add certain
substratum and superstratum elements.
100 Slavic Roots
The list below, with its inevitable subjective character, aims at putting
together 100 essential Slavic roots. Its main purpose is to show the three
satem-type early components of PES5, i.e.
5
PES = Pre-Expansion Slavic, i.e. the supposed or alleged convergent status of the
Slavic idiom before the 6th century A.D.
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(a) a presumably basic nucleus of a satem idiom akin to Baltic (precursor of

modern Lithuanian and Latvian, for convenience labelled Proto-Slavic A) but
also to Iranic (Proto-Slavic B) and northern Thracian (Proto-Slavic C)6.
(b) various influences may be observed in PES: Germanic, Iranic,
Thracian and East-Romance (Proto-Romanian).
(c) Late PES, which fused the three basic satem-type components
mentioned above, was a language which took contours in the first centuries
of the Christian era, probably between 4th to 6th centuries. It is difficult
(read: impossible) to trace back Proto-Slavic before the 4th century A.D.
1. ablo ‘apple’. Related to Lith. abúolas, German Apfel, English apple,

Old Irish abhall, ubhal. The forms are spread only in Europe, so the origin
may ultimately be Pre-Indo-European.
2. aje ‘egg’; in modern Slavic languages with either j and v and diminutival
suffix -ce: jajca, vejce. IE * 3v-o-jom and, according to some linguists, by the law
of Vrddhi a derivative from ‘bird’ as Lat. avis. Other related forms are Arm. ju,
Irish og but a common PIE form is difficult to reconstruct.
3. bojati s! ‘be afraid’. IE *bhey-, also preserved in Lith. bijoti-s ‘be
afraid’, bajus ‘frightening’.
4. baran, beran ‘he-sheep’. Old Pre-Indo-European word preserved in
some isolated contexts, e.g. Rom. bîr ‘calling a sheep’ (also NL, NM Bîrsa),
Basque baran, same meaning as in Slavic.
5. b"l# ‘white’. IE *bhe- ‘to shine; bright’, Lith. baltas ‘white’, Latvian
balts ‘white’, hence the name of the Baltic Sea. Related to Rom. b&l, b&lan
‘blond, blond-haired’, from Thracian.
6
Of course, Proto-Slavic A, B and C – as stated here – is a conventional way to
suggesting the three basic satem-type components of the Slavic linguistic tradition.
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6. berg# ‘river side; a peak’. Related to Arm. berj ‘a peak’, Germ. Berg
‘a hill, mountain’. The expected reflex in Slavic would have been *ber40, so
the word follows a centum influence or a centum borrowing, presumably
Germanic. Cf. Rom. NM Bîrg&u.
7. bog# ‘god’. Seemingly borrowed from an eastern satem language
which must be an Iranic (Scythian) idiom, cf. Neo-Persian ba5 ‘god’,
primitive meaning ‘the one who gives, is generous’. • bogat# ‘rich’ is
derived from the basic root. Reflects component B or PES.
8. bolto ‘a pond’. Related to Lith. bala ‘marsh’; cf. b#l!. Final -to is
unclear. Anyway, it is related to Rom. balt&, Alb. baltë ‘a pond’. Borrowing
from North Thracian or Proto-Romanian? Or should be assigned to
component C of PES?
9. bratr#, brat# ‘brother’. IE *bhrater, hence Lat. frater, Eng. brother,
Germ. Bruder etc. Old IE root specific for family relations; cf. sestra.
10. brazda ‘a furrow’ (= a dig in the earth). Old European farm term,
perhaps of Pre-Indo-European origin, cf. Lith. bir$is, Latv. birze ‘id.’,
Gallic rica ‘id.’
11. buk# ‘the beech tree’ (fagus). Considered an essential word for
determining the Slavic homeland; present day distribution is west of the axis
Kaliningrad-Danube Delta. Related to Germ. Buche, Eng. beech; some
assume that the Slavs borrowed the word from Germanic.
12. byti ‘to be’, primitive meaning probably ‘to grow, to appear’, related
to Lat. fu6, Old Indian bh7vati ‘happens, exists’.
13. b$rati ‘to take; carry’. IE *bher- ‘to carry’, hence also Lat. fero,
Arm. berem etc.
14. c"na ‘price’, primitive meaning ‘compensation for a wound or evil
made to someone else’, cf. Lith. dial. kaina ‘revenge, penalty’.
15. %ar$, %ar# ‘a charm, a magic’. Related to Lith. keriù, kereti ‘to
charm someone with bad eye’, IE *ker- ‘create, make’.
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16. %as# ‘time; course of time-flow’. Seemingly related to -esati ‘to
hasten, speed up’; otherwise the etymon is unclear.
17. %elo ‘forehead’. Origin unknown.
18. %$rn# ‘black’. Seemingly an old IE root for denoting dark colours,
as in Rom. cioar& ‘a crow’ (< Thracian), Alb. sorrë ‘a
crow’ (Thraco!Illyrian).
19. dati ‘to give’: dam0, dasi, dast0, dam!, date, dad/t0 ‘I give, you
give, etc.’. Related to a largely spread IE family with the same meaning, e.g.
Lat. do, dare etc.
20. d#kti ‘daughter’. Related to Eng. daughter, all from IE
*dhugh#ter-‘daugher’.
21. d$n$, gen. d$ne ‘day’, initially ‘the bright (= sunny) part of a
day’ (as opposed to night = the dark part of a day). The masculine gender of
the (sunny) day is opposed to the feminine gender of noc0 ‘night’ (as in
German: Tag v. 8acht). Old IE root *dei-eu, *dj-eu- as in Lat. dies ‘day’.
22. d&z# (d$rz#) ‘bold, courageous’. Related to Lith. dr9sùs ‘bold’, Av.
dar"yu ‘bold, powerful’, Gr. :;<=>, ‘bold’. The expected form would have
been *d0rs! which would have resulted in *d0rch!. The form may be of
Thracian origin, cf. Thracian god-name Derzelas ‘powerful (one)’ and Rom.
dîrz ‘powerful, bold’, unjustly considered sometimes of Slavic origin. The
situation seems rather reverse: a Thracian or Proto-Romanian influence in
Proto-Slavic, as in s!to (see the list of numerals) and k!motra.
23. dr"vo, gen. dr#va and dr?vese ‘wood’. Proto-form must have been
*dervo, gen. derva, pl. dr!va. Related to Lith. dervà ‘wood of the plant
Vaccinium’, Goth. triu ‘tree, wood’, Eng. tree etc. IE proto-form probably
was *der-u- or *dor-u-.
24. d'b# ‘oak’. Related to Germanic *tanw% ‘fir-tree’ and Finnish
tammi ‘oak’. All these forms must ultimately be of Pre-Indo-European
origin or, in the light of Andreev’s Proto-Boreal theory, of archaic ‘Boreal’
origin, and reflect indigenous European terms related to a specific flora.
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25. duch# ‘spirit, (holy) ghost’ and du(e ‘soul’; also related dychati ‘to
breathe’. Old term related to the basic conception of life, spirit, breathing and,
by opposition, death. The meaning and form ‘spirit’ is closely related to Lith.
dvãsas ‘id.’, whereas the sphere ‘soul’ – ‘to breathe’, IE proto-forms must
have been *dousos and *dous-j7 respectively. The Indo-Europeans seemingly
had two conceptions: (1) ‘soul, breathing’ as in OHD *7tum, Lat. anima
(hence Rom. inim& ‘heart’), Gr. @)AB, and (2) ‘spirit, ghost’ as in German
Geist and Hitt. i"tanza. It is not clear to what extent the Hittite form may be
related to Hungarian Isten ‘god’ (also the Christian supreme divinity).
26. gad# ‘snake, serpent’. Related to many folk beliefs. Unclear,
probably indigenous of Pre-Indo-European origin.
27. golva ‘head’. Related to Lith., Latv. galva, perhaps also Lat. calva.
There is no other detectable relationship, possibly central-east European
term of Pre-Indo-European origin.
28. gl!d', gl!d"ti, iter. gl!daj', gl!dati ‘to look at, analyse by looking
at’. Related to Latv. glendCt ‘look at, for’, Ir. in-glennat ‘(they) look for’, M.
Eng. glenten > glean. The archaic meaning must have been related to
‘mental analysis by, through, after seeing’, so the later developments
preserved one of these basic meanings.
29. gl'bok# ‘deep’. Development of type root + -ok! as in "ir-ok!
‘broad’ and vys-ok! ‘high’, therefore suffix –ok! was related to the notion
of ‘vast, big, deep’. The only relation of Slavic root gl1b- may be Old
Indian gambh- ‘depth’.
30. g#nati, goniti ‘to run (fast)’. IE root *gen- is weakened by ! not the
usual 0. Related to Lith. genù, giñti ‘to run’, Latv. dzenu, dzìt and gan6t, also
Old Prussian guntwei ‘to run’.
31. gn"v# ‘fury’. Unclear origin. Words in the semantic sphere ‘fury’
may be related to the divine influence, malefic or benefic; see the discussion
in Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational.
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32. gora ‘hill, mountain’; sometimes ‘forest’. The only related forms
seem to be Old Indian giri, Av. gairi ‘hill, mountain’, Lith. gìrD, girià
‘forest’. On the other hand, there are Pre-Indo-European forms with root
*K-R-, *G-R- which might be taken into consideration. Cf. Rom. grui ‘a
(low) hill’ (frequent in place-names), PN Gruia.
33. gor"ti ‘to burn’. Related to Gr. EF;(µ<G ‘I warm up’, EF;(, ‘hot,
warm’ etc.
34. gospod$ ‘lord, master’, in OCS ‘(My) Lord = God’. In some modern
Slavic languages (South and East Slavic) ‘Sir, Mr.’ Seemingly a compound
word from *gos- from *ghosti- and pod0 from potis 'a master'; the proto-
form probably was *ghostis-potis 'master of the guest'. IE *ghostis meant
'foreigner' and 'guest'; later some IE languages “worsened” the meaning, and
‘foreigner’ resulted in ‘enemy (foreigner)’, then ‘enemy’ in general. Slavic
gost0 ‘guest’ is related to Latin hostis ‘enemy’ (hence hostile), but English
guest preserves the same meaning as in Slavic.
35. gov!do ‘cattle’. Related to Lith. galvìas ‘cattle’ and German Kalb
‘calf’. The initial l of the root disappeared by disimilation: l-n > -n, whereas
suffix -/do is isolated and unclear. As in other cases, this was a collective
noun with gramatically singular form and plural meaning, as tel/, in the
oblique cases in -/t-a, later turning into -/da, hence a singular -/do. It may
be assumed that gov0no ‘(animal) excrement’ is derived from the same root
gov-, but not all the linguists agree with this view.
36. gov#r# > g#vor# ‘noise’ > ‘speech’; g#voriti, govoriti ‘to speak’.
The archaic meaning was ‘make a loud noise, to yell’; the Slavic form is
isolated, maybe related to Gr. thórybos ‘noise’ from IE *ghworub-os; if so,
with the alternance b/v in Slavic.
37. gord# ‘a fortress’; basic meaning: ‘to surround with a fence, to make
an encircled, protected place' as revealed in the verbs derived from this root
(o-graditi, pre-graditi, za-graditi). Related to Hittite gurta- ‘a fortress’,
AHD garto, modern German Garten ‘garden’, Lat. hortus ‘a garden’. Rom.
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gard ‘a fence’ (hence also a îngr&di ‘to make a pen, to encircle’,
îngr&ditur& ‘a pen for cattle’) is not borrowed from Slavic, as formerly held
by some linguists, by reflects a parallel heritage from Thracian; also Alb.
gardh ‘a fence’, closely related to Romanian.
38. g#rdlo ‘throat; neck’. Basic meaning must have been ‘to eat’ as in
40r1, 4r?ti ‘to eat’, IE *gwer#-; g!rdlo is thus derived with suffix -dlo from
this root; the different phonetic treatment g!r v. 40r1, 4r?ti is due to the
initial ‘dark’ vocalic component of r in PIE, preserved in Proto-Slavic.
39. gru(a ‘a pare’. Related to Lith. griau"D, same meaning. No further
identifiable relationship, probably an archaic Pre-IE element.
40. gv"zda, zv"zda (OCS dzv"zda) ‘a star’. The modern Slavic
languages preserved either forms beginning in gv- (in Czech and Slovak g
turned to h, which notes a voiced glottal, opposed to ch, unvoiced) or in zv-:
Czech hv?zda, Slovak hviezda, Polish gwiazda; Russian zvezdá, Ukrainian
zvizdá; Bulgarian, Serbian and Slovene zvezda, Croatian zvijezda. • Closely
related to the Baltic forms represented by Lith. 4vaig4dD, Latvian zvaigzne,
same meaning. The initial meaning was 'to shine, to glitter', lost in Slavic,
but preserved in Lith. dvazgDti; hence was derived *dvazg-j7, then j was
shifted (“anticipated”) in the first syllable (*dvaizg-7), followed by a change
of the group d-g to g-d: *gvaizd7 > gv?zda. In the eastern and southern
group the second palatalisation occurred, and the group gvai- developed to
dzv?-, and then again dz > z.
41. gold#, OCS glad# ‘hunger’. Considered related to 4l0d?ti, S.-Cr.
4udim, 4ud(j)eti ‘look for, be greedy’; Gothic grCdus ‘hunger’ (related to
Eng. greed) may belong to the same family. No other relationship is
analysable outside Slavic and Germanic.
42. cholp# ‘mature man; a man in general; young, powerful man’. In
modern Slavic languages, the meanings vary: ‘young man’, but also 'mature
man' dialectally (Czech), ‘a peasant’ (Polish), ‘idiot’ (Ukrainian). Etymon
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difficult to identify, possibly related to Old Norse garpr ‘tüchtiger Mann’,
Icelandic garpur ‘tüchtiger Kerl’ as Machek assumes.
43. chl"b# ‘bread’. Borrowed from, or related to, Germanic *hlaiba-,
Gothic hlaifs, the South Germanic word for ‘bread’ against North Germanic
Brot, Eng. bread. There is no decissive argument for/against borrowing
from Germanic or for/against non-borrowing, but most linguists are inclined
to consider the form as borrowed from Germanic. This would comply with
other arguments regarding Slavic ethnogenesis.
44. ch#me)$ ‘hops’; basic element for preparing beer. Some linguists
assume that the term was borrowed from an Oriental or Caucasian language,
spread – maybe by the Turkic Bulgars – to Europe; there are similar or
identical forms in many European languages. A decisive answer to this
problem may be offered by palaeobotanical investigations which would
identify the homeland. The term might be Pre-IE, and also shared by some
Oriental languages. There is no argument supporting the hypothesis that
hops was brought to Europe by Oriental people; it may be rather included in
the large category of botanical term specific to the European languages of
the Indo-European family.
45. chod# ‘a walk’, choditi ‘to walk’. IE *sod-o-s, from root *sed- ‘to
go, walk’, Gr. hodós, same origin and meaning; compare Gr. ex-odos and
Slavic is-chod! ‘exit’.
46. chorm# ‘a cathedral; a solid building’. Seemingly related to Hittite
karimmi, Genitive karimna" ‘a temple, a cult-place’, Old Indian harmyá ‘a
solid building, a fortress’. Old Indian h and Hittite k may go back to an
initial gh in PIE; the initial form in Proto-Slavic may have been *gorm! >
*chorm!.
47. cho*', chot"ti ‘to wish (for), to want’. Related to Lithuanian ketù,
ketéti ‘to have in mind, to plan’ and Greek A<+FH (< *khatei3) ‘to wish
intensely’. Proto-Slavic form presumably was *kot?ti and had a deep
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stressing meaning, so replaced the neutral meaning in vel- ‘to want, to wish’
(as in Latin volo, velle), hence voliti.
48. jar- ‘year; spring’. In modern Slavic languages of neutre or feminine
gender. The archaic meaning was ‘year’, thus related to Germ. Jahr, Eng.
year etc. < IE *j3r-. The newer meaning ‘spring’ (as in Czech and Slovak)
reflects the traditional, popular New Year which was on March 1st.
49. jeb', *jebti (jebati) Usually held for vulgar, taboo word: ‘to have
sexual intercourse’; preserved in most Slavic languages, with this sense in
Serbo-Croatian and Slovene; in Czech meant ‘to curse, to swear (on)’.
Spread at colloquial level, and thus largely used. Seemingly related to Greek
(IJH ‘to have sexual intercourse with’ (only about humans; referrring to
animals, the Greeks used (AF)H); similarly, formally and semantically, Skr.
yábhati-.
50. jezero, also jezer! ‘a lake’. Related to Lithuanian C4eras, Latvian
ezers ‘a lake’; further relationship is unclear. A. Vaillant assumes that is
derived from jez ‘a levee’, i.e. ‘lakes are obtained by setting levees on a
river’, a particularly improbable explanation.
51. j!zyk# ‘tongue’, also ‘language’. Loosely related or relatable to
Latin lingua, but it is difficult to reconstruct the Proto-Slavic form. For the
word in this category there presumably was tabooing, but we can refer to a
primitive meaning ‘narrow’, in which case may be related to 1z!k!
‘narrow’, but this may also be fortuitous.
52. j!tro ‘liver’. Related to Old Indian antrá- ‘interior (parts)’, Latin
interior, Greek ’F*+K;< < IE *en-tero-, *entr- ‘interior (part)’ hence
‘essential limb’.
53. j"d', iti ‘to walk’. Suffix -d- probably reflects the archaic IE
imperative *i-dhi!; IE root was *ei/i, *ei-mi, pl. *i-mes. Related to Lat. eo,
ire etc.
54. j$go (from *j!go) ‘a yoke’. Archaic, essential term related to Lat.
jugum, Gr. L)5M*, Germ. Joch etc. < IE *jug-o-m, *yeug- ‘to tether; to link’.
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55. j$m!, j$mene ‘name’. Unclear relationship to other forms; Lat.
n3men, Old Indian n7ma had root *n3-, whereas Greek ’M*(µ< has prothetic
o etc. Other forms of this category show that the origin may have been a
verb with the supposed meaning ‘to speak, to communicate, to discriminate
by choosing a name’, but these are only hypotheses.
56. kamy, kamene ‘stone’. The proto-form was *-m3n, Gen. *-men-es,
with the archaic shift o/e, cf. Lith. akmuõ, Gen. ak-meñ-s, Latvian akmens,
Old Indian aNman, Avestan asman- ‘stone’, etc. The word must be archaic,
and some meanings go back to the Neolithic. PIE root was *a$-, so its
preservation in the satem area must be explained as either an exception or
the influence of the neighbouring a and m (which cannot be a decisive
argument in itself).
57. kol"no ‘knee’. Related to Lith. kelenas ‘knee’, maybe also Irish
cenél ‘kneeing, veneration’. No further identifiable relationship.
58. ko+$ 'horse’. Presumably abridged from an older form *komo20,
which – in its turn – may be related to Lat. caballus (with the alternance b/
m). The word would be non-Indo-European or, at least, not from the PIE
vocabulary stock (which resulted in Lat. equus, Gr. OPP(,, Lithuanian a"va,
etc.
59. koza ‘(she)-goat’. Sacred animal, preserved in seasonal rites until
today in various parts of Europe. The word is possibly related to Old Indian
aj7 ‘she-goat’; no other relationship has been identified or is identifiable.
60. kupiti, kupovati ‘to buy’. From Germanic *kaupjan, German
kaufen, in its turn derived from koufo ‘businessman’, Gothic kaup3n ‘make
business, be a merchant’ < Latin caup3,-3nis ‘owner of a boutique, small
merchant’. The word is ultimately of unknown origin, but reached the far
north, as in Finnish kauppa, hence kaupunki ‘town’ (i.e. place of trade’) and
kauppala ‘township’, formerly ‘a market place’.
61. k'pati, k'p' ‘to bathe’. Unknown origin, maybe related to root kon-
‘hemp’; this relation was suggested on the basis that the Scythians did not
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bathe, but used something related to the Finnish sauna in which they used
hemp for certain bathing rites. This somewhat undecided explanation may
be eventually replaced by another one, assuming that bathing had the sacred
meaning of purification; the word might thus be of Pre-Indo-European
origin.
62. k#my, k#mene ‘a trunk; a family tree, an ethnic group’. The initial
meaning seems to have been that reflected in IE *teut7, preserved in Slavic
too (see tud0, Qud0). This semantic sphere was replaced in Slavic by k!my,
k!mene and plem?. • Related to Gr. kRma from IE *ku-m3n, with zero grade
in Greek, *ku-mS. Also related is, as often, Lithuanian kamenas, with the
same meaning as in Slavic.
63. k#n!dz$ ‘princeps’ (a typical term for the local local and military
leader until, in some Slavic languages, was replaced by West European and
Byzantine terminology). Borrowed from Germanic kuning (modern German
König). The term was also borrowed in Finnish: kuningas.
64. k#+iga, k+iga ‘a book; a letter, something written’. Pan-Slavic, but
obviously not Proto-Slavic. Etymology difficult to determine, the only
related form being Hungarian könyv ‘a book’; OCS spelling k!n is a mere
graphic convention, as the group kn could not be spelled as such, but only as
k!n. • Given the etymological difficulties, some assume that the ultimate
origin is Chinese king, though this would be the unique case of a Chinese
word in Slavic; the route would have been: Chinese > Proto-Bulgar (Turkic)
> Hungarian > Slavic; the obvious relation with Hungarian könyv would
indicate an eastern origin, but this generic assumption is not sufficient. The
simplified Chinese transcription king may be misleading, as the
pronounciation is Qíng.
65. led# ‘ice’. Related to Lith. lCdas, Latvian ledus. No other
relationship outside Balto-Slavic.
66. l"s# ‘a forest, woods’. Old meaning seemingly was ‘leaved culture,
an area with many leaves’, thus may be related to Latin lTcus < IE *loi$-o-s;
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Lith. "ilas may be derived from the same root, with metathesis *les-/le"- >
"il-; may also be a simple hypothesis.
67. l"to ‘year; summer (< ‘best part of the year’). Unknown origin,
isolated form among the neighbouring languages.
68. lipa ‘lime, linden tree (Tilia)’. From *lCip7 the only relantionship
may possibly be with Cymric llwyf ‘elm-tree (Ulmus)’.
69. )ud#, )ud$je ‘people; nation, people viewed as a collectivity’. The
basic meaning must have been that preserved in Old Russian ljudin! ‘free
man’ as opposed to knja4i mu4e ‘people in the service of the k!n/dz0’. The
Uud0je must have been those free people; related to Lith. liáudis (fem.
gender), Latvian laudis (masc. gender), OHD liut (German Leute), Lat. l6ber
‘free’, Greek VWK>+K;(, (e-leut-eros) ‘free’. Seemingly the forms reflect an
archaic opposition *teut7 ‘man’ (singurlar) – *leudh- ‘people’ (plural); see
also s.v. tud0, Qud0.
70. med# ‘bee-honey’. Old word, related to Old Indian mádhu ‘mead,
hydromel’, Gr. µF:) ‘alcoholic drink, wine’, Lith. medùs, Latvian medus.
The initial meaning must have been ‘hydromel, mead’, and (from taboo
reasons?) was transfered to ‘honey’. The PIE word for ‘bee-honey’ is
preserved in Latin mel and Greek µFWG. Similar forms in Finnish mete,
Hungarian méz, Mordvinian m’ed’, Lappish m6tt. All these forms support
Andreev’s Proto-Boreal theory; the Uralic forms must not necessarily be
explained as borrowings from PIE, but independently preserved from Proto-
Boreal. • Slavic medv"d# ‘bear’ (lit. ‘honey-eater’), eufemistic form for a
tabooed animal.
71. melko ‘milk’. Related to only Germanic: Eng. milk, German Milch.
Maybe borrowed from Germanic or rather a common indigenous form
preserved in the two linguistic groups.
72. m!so ‘meat’. Related to Gothic mimz, Latvian miesa, proto-forms
*mCs-ro- and *mems-ro-.
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73. mold# ‘young’. Old meaning was probably ‘mild, fragile’ (the IE
word for ‘young’ was *younos > Slavic jun!, Eng. young etc.), the opposite
of star! ‘old’. Related to Lat. mollis < IE *%dv-i-s.
74. molj', moliti ‘to pray (for oneself), to invoke the gods’ will’; later
the verb turned reflexive. Related to Lith. mel4diù, melsti ‘to pray, to ask for
something’, maldà ‘a pray’, Hittite malda(i)- ‘to make a promise, to ask
gods for something, to offer a sacrifice to gods’.
75. mysl$ ‘understanding, thoughts’, hence mysliti, mysl"ti ‘to think’.
Seemingly related to Greek µXE(, ‘thinking’, later ‘word, story’.
76. m#lviti, ml#viti ‘to speak; to make noise’. Related to Old Indian
brav6ti ‘(he) speaks, says’, PIE *mlew#-.
77. nag# ‘nude, naked’. Related to Lith. núogas, Latvian nuôgs, German
nackt, Eng. naked etc., IE root *nog- with various suffix developments.
78. nebo, Gen. nebese ‘ sky; heaven’. Related to Hittite nepis- ‘sky’, Old
Indian nábhas ‘sky; cloud; aeral place’, Gr. *FJ(, ‘cloudy sky, cloud’. After
adoption of Christianity, the word was enriched with new meanings; cf.
raj0.
79. nokt$ ‘night’. IE *nogh-t-, *nokt- as in Lat. nox, noctis, Gr. *>Y,
*)Z+M,, Gothic nahts, Lith. naktìs, Latvian nakts.
80. noga ‘leg’. Isolated, possibly related to Old Norse knakkr ‘table leg’,
Norse knakk ‘animal leg’. The old IE root was preserved in Latin pCs, Gr.
P(>,, German Fuß, Eng. foot, feet, preserved in Slavic as an adverb: p?"0,
seemingly from *p?"-j0 ‘by foot’ (to walk by foot’ as opposed to ‘ride a
horse’).
81. p$j', piti ‘to drink’. Hence pivo ‘beer’. Old IE root, reconstructable
as *p3- (Lat. p3tus ‘a drink’) and *p6- (Gr. PI*H).
82. p)u*a n. pl. ‘lung(s)’. Modern Slavic languages preserved either the
original plural form or simplified to singular. Related to Lith. plaT-iai,
Latvian plau"i, both masc. pl. Related to Gr. PWK>-µH* and Lat. pulm3, with
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the same meaning. These must be related to the root *pneu- ‘to breathe’,
therefore an alternance *pleu-/ *pneu- must be accepted in prehistoric times.
83. plod# ‘offspring; fruit’ (also figuratively). Related to Old English
bloed ‘fruit’, MHD bl7t ‘harvest’; also French blé ‘wheat’ is from Frank
(Germanic) *bl7d. There is no archaic IE root reconstructable, so these form
must be accepted as indigenous Central-European, possibly of Pre-Indo-
European origin.
84. plug# ‘plough’. Similar forms are in Germanic (Germ. Pflug, Eng.
plough), Baltic (Lith. plTgas) and Romanian (plug). Romanian form is
traditionally held for Slavic, whereas the Slavic form would be borrowed
from Germanic or is indigenous. The Slavic origin of Romanian plug is at
least questionable, and rather reflects the linguistic stereotypes of the 19th
century; Rom. grap& ‘harrow’ is indigenous Thracian (with Albanian
parallel grep, gërepë ‘fish hook’) and a ara ‘to plough’ is of Latin origin.
The Germanic, Slavic, Baltic and Romanian (< Thracian) forms rather
reflect Central-European farm terminology; a North Thracian or Germanic
origin of Slavic plug! is possible, but is not necessary in order to explain the
form; all may reflect old terms referring to agriculture. The ultimate origin
is rather Pre-Indo-European, root *P-L- ‘stone, piece of stone’, so the
plough reminds the Neolithic and Chalcolithic stone ploughs.
85. prav# ‘right; straight’. Also pravda ‘truth’, praviti ‘do, say right’.
Isolated forms, perhaps derived from an old root *pr3 ‘ahead, advanced;
right away’.
86. pi(', p$sati, pisati ‘to write’. Related to Lith. pie"iù, piC"ti ‘to paint
with colours, to draw with coal’, Lat. ping3 ‘I paint’ < IE *pei$. In Slavic,
associated with ber1, b0rati ‘to take, to carry’ (against the expected pi"1,
pisati).
87. raj$ ‘paradise, Heavens’. Unclear origin, but Pre-Christian. The old
meaning must have been ‘blessed place in Heavens, where gods live’; cf.
nebo, nebese. According to the traditional view, the word would be of Iranic
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origin, Avestan ray- ‘richness; happiness’ (again traditionally, richness
means happiness!), Latin rCs ‘thing, property’.
88. r'ka ‘hand’. Only with Baltic parallels: Lith. rankà, Latvian ruoka,
Old Prussian rancko and the isolated Gallo-Romanic branca ‘a paw’, also
pejoratively ‘hand’ (hence Romanian pe brînci ‘on all fours’, used
especially about small babies learning to walk). The IE languages developed
local forms for ‘hand’, a tabooed word. Slavic r1ka probably derives from
IE*wer-, *wren-k- ‘to curve, to bend’.
89. s"k', s"(ti ‘to cut’; sekyra ‘a hatchet’. Related to Old Lith. [sekti, i"-
sekti ‘cut out, cut off’ and Lat. seco ‘I cut’. Other relationships are not clear.
90. s"m! ‘a seed’ < IE *sC-men, as in Lat. sCmen etc. Old IE term related
to agriculture.
91. sestra ‘sister’ from an older form *sve-sr-7 (with epenthetic t) < IE
*swe-s3(r); related to Lat. soror, Lith. sesuõ, gen. sese\s etc. Epenthetic t in
the sequence -sr- rather indicate a Thracian influence, where this is a normal
phonetical feature. Cf. bratr!, brat!.
92. syn# ‘son’; related to Lith. sTnus, Gothic sunus (German Sohn, Eng.
son) < IE *sT-nu-s.
93. s#ln$ce ‘sun’, of neuter gender; related to Lith. saulD, fem., Latvian
saule, Lat. s3l, masc. The neuter gender in Slavic may be explained by
assuming that Proto-Slavs venerated Sun as a divinity of either masculine or
feminine character.
94. s$rebro ‘silver’; related to Lith. sidãbras and Gothic silubr (Germ.
Silber, Eng. silver). Further relationship unclear.
95. tud$, *ud$ ‘foreign’. Derived with suffix -j0 from an IE root *taut7,
*teut7 ‘nation, ethnic group; foreigner’, hence also Lith. tautà ‘nation’,
Oscian touto ‘a tribe, a group’, and of course the name of the Teutons.
96. t&g# (t#rg#) ‘a market place’. Lith. turgùs, Latvian tirgus and Rom.
tîrg are held for Slavic borrowings, but the situation seems more complex.
The oldest attested similar forms are in Illyrian Tergeste, hence Tergitio. As
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a direct borrowing from Illyrian is impossible (Illyrian became extinct in the
2nd century A.D.) the only reasonable explanation is to assume a Thracian

form akin to Illyrian, hence Romanian form as a direct follower of Thracian,
and Slavic as a late Thracian or Proto-Romanian borrowing. Baltic forms
(Lithuanian and Latvian) may be assumed as borrowed from Slavic. The
ultimate, archaic root may be Pre-IE *T-R- ‘a stone, cliff’, well represented
in southeast European place-names.
97. ucho, dual form u"i ‘ear’. Old IE form spread in various languages,
e.g. Gothic aus3, gen. ausins < IE *aus, *ous.
98. usta ‘mouth’ (neutre plural). Standard IE form spread as a
gramatically neutre in Indo-Iranic and Italo-Celtic branch as Lat. 3s and Old
Irish á < IE *%s.
99. ve%er ‘evening’. Related to Lith. vãkaras (< *wekeros) and Arm.
gi"er, but Lat. vesperos, Gr. ‘F=PK;(, and Cymric ucher would require a
proto-form *wesperos as opposed to *wekeros. There probably was an IE
parallel which may lead to *we-kseper-o-s, hence either *wekeros or
*wesperos.
100. vid"ti ‘to see’. Old IE root *weid-, *wid- ‘to see’, hence also ‘to
know’ in Slavic v"d"ti ‘to know’.
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Addendum
The Slavic ,umerals
jed$-#, jedin# There seemingly was no unified word for ‘one’ in PIE,
therefore the IE languages often derived local forms starting from old, basic
forms. The primitive construction interpreted ‘one’ as ‘one part/component of
a pair’, at a time when grammatically the dual was opposed to both ‘one’ and
‘more than two’. The Slavic form resides on a previous construction *ede-in!,
hence j-ed-in!. The first part of the compound, -ed-, is seemingly related to
Lat. –dam in forms like quidam, idem.
d#va, d$v" ‘two’ (masculine and feminine respectively). PIE *d(u)v3,
cf. Gr. :>H, Lat. duo, duae, Eng. two etc. The numeral was closely
associated with the dual form of nouns and verbs, usual with all the IE
languages, lost meanwhile in almost all the IE family. As an exception,
Slovene still preserves the dual as a vivid form.
tr$je, tri ‘three’. PIE *tr-ei-es, Old Indian tráyas, Lat. trCs, Eng. three,
Germ. drei.
%tyr- ‘four’. PIE *kwet-wor-es, Gr. +F++<;K,, Lat. quattuor etc.
p!t$ ‘five’. PIE *penkwe, hence Gr. &'()*, Arm. hing, whereas Lat.
quinque has qu- under the influence of the subsequent -qu-; Goth. fimf
(Germ. fünf, Eng. five) has second f under the influence of the first.
(est$ ‘six’. The initial form would have been *kseksti, cf. Lith. "Cstas;
also Lat. sex, Ir. sé, Goth. saíhs. According to the laryngeal theory, the
proto-form could be *s-Hwe-ks, where: H notes the laryngeal; s- is
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fluctuant; k(e)s could mean ‘three’; Hwe meant ‘two, pair’. As a whole, PIE
form meant ‘two threes’. There is a long discussion regarding the
laryngeals; in this very case, the reconstruction is not the most convincing,
which does not mean that the laryngeal theory should be rejected as a
whole.
sedm$ PIE *sept% ‘seven’, hence Old Indian sapta, Lat. septem, Ir. secht.
osm$ ‘eight’. PIE *ok’t3(u) ‘eight’, Old Indian a"t7, a"t7u, Av. a"ta,
Lat. oct3 etc. Some assume that the ending 3(u) is the same as in nom.-acc.
dual, so the form would be an archaic ‘tetraedric dual’, i.e. ‘two times four’,
PIE reconstructed form *ambhi-$t3(u), in rapid speech reducted to *o$t3(u).
dev!t$ ‘nine’. IE *neuS, hence Old Indian náva, Lat. novem, which is
seemingly related to *newos ‘new’, i.e. ‘nine’ is the first numeral after ‘two times
four’ (see above under osm0). The archaic Slavic form was probably *dev/.
des!t$ ‘ten’. Basic numeral of IE origin, Eng. ten, Lat. decem, etc. The
phonetic evolution in Slavic shows it as a genuine old numeral, unlike s!to
‘100’, of north Thracian or Proto-Romanian origin. For PIE we may
reconstruct *de-k’mt-óm ‘10’ and *k’mt-óm ‘100’. In Slavic and Germanic,
‘1000’ is derived from ‘100’ and probably meant ‘a big hundred’. There is
no reconstructable PIE root for ‘1000’, each language or linguistic family
having developed local forms.
s#./ ‘one hundred’. The expected form would have been *s/t0, if
compared to ‘10’ (see), which probably existed before it was replaced by a
north-Thracian (or Proto-Romanian) form, cf. Rom. sut& ‘100’, incorrectly
considered of Slavic origin in Romanian. The only Slavic numeral with
noun aspect, included in the category of neuters in -o. Slavic s!t] behaves
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like a noun, as in Romanian and Albanian, where the numerals for ‘10’,
‘100’ and ‘1000’ behave like nouns7, a system radically different from
Slavic, with the exception of the ‘intrusive’ s!t].
tys!(ta, tys0(ta ‘one thousand’. As in Germanic, ‘1000’ was considered
a ‘big, expanded hundred’, and is formed by the prefix *tu- > Sl. *ty- + the
numeral ‘100’. This Slavic numeral preserves the old form *s/t0, with
epenthetic " not properly explained, preceded by the prefix ty-. Both the
forms for ‘10’ and ‘1000’ clearly show that the form ‘100’ is “intrusive”,
borrowed.
7
This is clear in the case of o sut! ‘one hundred’ and o mie ‘one thousand’, where
o is the indefinite article for feminine singular. In the case of zece ‘ten’, it is
sufficient to go farther to dou!zeci (= dou! zeci), lit. ‘two tens’, with dou! ‘two’,
for feminine nouns.
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222
Glosar de termeni mitologici lituanieni
Lexicon mythologicum lithuanicum
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Glosar de termeni mitologici lituanieni
Acest glosar a fost elaborat ca anex! a traducerii volumului Despre zei !i

despre oameni de Algirdas Julien Greimas, prima "i – deocamdat! – singura
lucrare dedicat! mitologiei lituaniene care s!a publicat în limba român!. Este
evident c! acest glosar î"i are menirea de a l!muri termenii principali folosi#i "i
explica#i de Greimas în lucrarea sa. Pe de alt! parte, am dorit s! ar!t!m aici
posibila înrudire dintre unii termeni române"ti arhaici, probabil sau posibil de
origine autohton! traco!dac!, "i cî#iva termeni lituanieni. De altfel, înrudirea
dintre traco!dac! "i lituanian! a fost de mult observat!, iar datele de aici nu fac
decît s! aduc! noi dovezi în acest sens. De asemenea, acest glosar completeaz!
datele prezentate în primul volum al acestei serii, Dic"ionarul etimologic al
elementelor autohtone (traco!dace) ale limbii române.
Fiind prima "i, se pare, singura încercare de acest fel din literatura
român!, nu poate sc!pa de posibile erori. Fa#! de prima edi#ie, publicat! ca
anex! la traducerea men#ionat!, am adus aici doar mici corecturi "i
clarific!ri, f!r! modific!ri esen#iale. Desigur, exist! multe alte elemente
comune fondului arhaic al limbii române "i limbii lituaniene, dar acesta este
ori poate fi subiectul altor abord!ri.
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225
Lexica Etymologica Maiora
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aitvaras pl. aitvarai Reprezent!ri mitice aeriene zoomorfe, în general sub

aspect de balaur sau de "arpe, avînd un caracter complex, binef!c!tor "i
r!uf!c!tor. Se hr!nesc cu mîncare fiart! sau pr!jit!. Se crede c! un aitvaras se
na"te prin clocirea testiculelor de coco". Cf. aitas ‘agitator; vagabond’; aitauti
1. ‘a mîngîia, a lini"ti’; 2. ‘a flata, a mitui’. În principiu, aitvarai!i sînt amorali,
colerici "i r!zbun!tori, dar pot fi îmblînzi#i prin mituire "i flatare.
akivaras ‘vîrtej’; opus lui aitvaras.
akmuo Vechi lituanian akmo ‘piatr!’, mai ales ‘piatr! uria"!’.
Andojas Zeul apei. Cf. (v)anduo ‘ap!’.
Apid!m! Zei#a domiciliului p!r!sit din cauza unui aitvaras.
Aust!ja Zei#a cre"terii; un rol similar îl are "i #emyna. Derivat din austyti,
1. ‘a #ese’; 2. ‘a alerga încolo "i încoace’; 3. ‘a închide "i deschide’. Imaginat!
ca #es!toare "i ca albin!. Vezi "i Bubilas, Lazdona.
Au"ra Zei#a razelor, reprezentate prin cosi#ele zei#ei.
Au"rin! Zei#a Aurora, comparat! uneori cu saul$ ‘soare(le)’ (de gen
feminin în lituanian!).
Au""veitis Zeul s!n!t!#ii, fratele Au%rin$!i.
Au"tra Divinitate a luminii, asem!nat! uneori cu Au%rin$.
Au"trinis Vîntul de miaz!noapte v!zut ca divinitate. Cf. Au%rin$, Au%tra.
bandininkai Echivalent al cuvîntului francez compagnons, lit. „cei care

m!nînc! pîine împreun!” = „companion, membru al unei fr!#ii”.
band#iulyst! Agricultor. Derivat de la banda ‘turm!, ciread!’.
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barstukas, pl. barstukai Reprezent!ri fantastice (pitici emana#i de

Pu%kaitis) care tr!iesc sub soc (bezdas), fiind trimi"i s! aduc! oamenilor
bog!#ii "i noroc.
Baubis, Bubalis, Baubau"is, Baublys Divinitate protectoare a turmelor "i
p!storilor.
bedalis Om f!r! parte = f!r! noroc; vezi Dalia, Dalis.
bezdas Soc, prezent în numeroase credin#e. Cf. bezdeti ‘a trage pîr#uri, a se
b!"i’, bezdalas ‘pîr#, b!"in!’.
bi$iulis Derivat din bit$ ‘albin!’. Ini#ial însemna ‘prieten prin albine’,
adic! persoan! aleas! dup! criterii morale c!reia i se d!ruiau stupi; adesea, era
vorba de al doilea fiu, care se stabilea în casa viitoarei so#ii. Azi, cuvîntul
înseamn! ‘prieten’ în general. Derivat: bi&iulyst$ ‘(lit.) prietenie prin albine’,
în lituaniana modern! ‘prietenie (în general)’.
Bubilas Zeul albinelor. Asociat sensului de ‘gras, p!ros’ "i, pe de alt!
parte, poten#ei sexuale.
cvikinas 1. Vin verde, amestec de vin "i hidromel. 2. „Sîngele norei”,

b!utur! ritual!.
$vikas Parte a pantalonului unde se îmbin! cracii; "li#. Cf. &vikis, &vikinas.
$vikinas G!lu"te din semin#e zdrobite de mac "i de cînep!, amestecate cu
miere. Asociate testiculelor de mînz. Cf. &vikas, &vikis.
$vikis Dop, "omoiog. Cf. &vikas, &vikinas.
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dalia, dalis 1. ‘parte’; 2. ‘soart!’. Cf. rom. „a nu avea parte”, unde parte
are aici sensul de noroc. Derivat: be!dalis ‘om f!r! parte = om f!r! noroc’.
Dievas, augmentativ Dievaitis Dumnezeul cre"tin. Ini#ial, zeul
suveranit!#ii contractuale. Etimologic, corespunde romanului Deus "i grecului
Zeus, vechi reprezent!ri indo!europene ale zeului cerului senin.
%#ia!gulys Zeu ce st! culcat la hotarul dintre cîmpurile cultivate. Compus

din $'ia ‘brazd! ce m!rgine"te un cîmp’ "i gul$ti ‘a sta culcat’.
Gabija Divinitate a c!minului, focul din vatr!.

gabjauja S!rb!toarea depozit!rii grînelor. Gabjaujis, zeul hambarelor.
Gabjaujis Vezi gabjauja.
Ganda Divinitatea rela#iilor sexuale cump!tate, spre deosebire de Pizius.
Uneori, epitet al zei#ei Aust$ja.
gandrin!s S!rb!toarea deschiderii grînarelor.
Gav!nas Divinitate a vîntului. Cf. V$jas.
gegut! Cuc. Reprezentarea mitic! a destinului.
Giltin! Moartea. Sora zei#ei Laima "i protectoare a medicilor. În timp ce
Laima decide soarta unui nou!n!scut, Giltin$ ia decizii spre sfîr"itul vie#ii.
Derivat din gelti ‘a în#epa’, geluo ‘suli#!’, g$limas ‘în#ep!tur!’.
gydantis Apa t!m!duitoare. Cf. gyvasis, gyvuonis.
gyvas Viu. De aici, gyvastis ‘via#!’.
gyvasis, gyvuonis Apa vie#ii. Cf. Gydantis.
ilg!s, ilgiai S!rb!tori de toamn! dedicate lui Vai'gantas.

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isodija Vezi u'kuryst$.
jaknos, jeknos Ficat. Cf. kepenys.

jevaras Snop de grîu.
Kalevelis Zeul!faur.
kalt&nas Boal! provocat! de un aitvaras, ce afecteaz! p!rul, unghiile "i
intestinele.
kauk! R!d!cin! cu sensul ‘sferic, rotund, bombat’: kaukos ‘gu"a scroafei’;
kauk$ 1. ‘piuli#!’; 2. ‘masc! de carnaval’; kaukol$ ‘craniu’; kvauk$ ‘cap,
sc!fîrlie’; kaukaribas, kauk!d$lis ‘cre"tetul capului’.
kaukas, pl. kaukai 1. Reprezent!ri mitice htoniene, antropomorfe,
binef!c!toare, consumatoare de crudit!#i. Diminutiv pl. kauku&iai. Se crede c!
un kaukas se na"te din clocirea unor testicule de vier (kuilys). 2. Planta
Mandragora officinarium, cu r!d!cini mirositoare, numit! "i kaukelis,
kaukoras.
kaukogrybis Planta Phallus impudicus. Cf. kaukas.
kepenys, kepsniai Ficat. Exist! numeroase credin#e legate de ficat. Cf.
jaknos, jeknos.
Krik"tai S!rb!toare str!veche celebrat! „la mijlocul iernii”. Prin asimilare
cre"tin!, se celebreaz! în jurul Epifaniei (în calendarul romano!catolic, 6
ianuarie), de Sf. Pavel (25 ianuarie) sau în a patra miercuri a P!resimilor. Cf.
Krik%tas, snopi lega#i la baza unei cl!i. Azi, sub influen#a cre"tin!, înseamn!
„botez” "i nu se mai folose"te forma de plural.
kuilas Hernie. Kuilys ‘vier’, derivat din precedentul.
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kumeliukas 1. g!lbenu"; 2. mînz. Asociere semnatic! de tip arhaic, bazat!

pe echivalen#a ‘g!lu"te = mînz’. Cf. &vikinas.
laikas Timpul. Nelaikis, nelai%is ‘cel care moare înainte «de timpul s!u»’.
Laima Zei#a sor#ii. Cf. laim$, laim$s ‘noroc, soart!’. Ca personificare, la
plural, zei#ele sor#ii. Nelaim$ ‘nefericire, nenoroc’.
lalo Refren în cîntecele lituaniene. Cf. rom. la!la, a l(l(i. Lalavimas
‘plimbare în grup a tinerilor în noaptea de Pa"ti’; laluot ‘a cînta serenade’.
Lapkritys Uria" care, dintr!o suflare, gole"te copacii de frunze toamna, în
luna noiembrie.
laum!, pl. laum$s Folosit, mai ales, la plural. Un fel de zîne, asociate
universului acvatic "i sferei sacralit!#ii lunare. Cf. Laima, laim$, ragana.
lauminkai Pseudo!copii (b!ie#i) ai laum$!lor ivi#i din paie, un fel de „copii
inversa#i”.
Lazdona Zei#! a albinelor; cuvînt derivat din aceea"i r!d!cin! ca lazdynas
‘alun’. Cf. Aust$ja, Bubilas.
lemti 1. ‘a spune, a se pronun#a privind viitorul’; 2. ‘a hot!rî, a decide’; 3.
‘a stabili’; 4. ‘a ghici’; 5. ‘a profe#i’; 6. ‘a dori, a ura’ (în sensul împlinirii
viitoare). Cf. Laima.
lerva I. 1. ‘masc!’; 2. ‘mutr!’; 3. ‘m!g!oaie, fantom!’; 4. ‘haimana,
deochiat’; II. ‘fiin#! în evolu#ie’. Cf. ly&yna.
linksmin! ‘voioasa’, epitet al curcubelului. Cf. Vaivoryk%t$.
ly$yna I. Sensurile I, 1–4 pentru lerva; II. ‘larv!, parazit’.
maras ‘cium!’, ciuma ca simbol letal.
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martavimas Condi#ia de a fi marti (vezi mai jos).

marti, pl. mar&ios 1. Fat! (virgin!) apt! de m!riti"; 2. Femeie (care "i!a
pierdut virginitatea), dar care înc! nu a n!scut. Conform tradi#iei arhaice, o
femeie care nu a n!scut nu este înc! femeie pe deplin.
M!nulis Zeul lunii („lun!” este de gen masculin în lituanian!, iar „soare”
de gen feminin, cf. Saul$).
mil#inas, mil#ionis Uria", gigant.
muturas $al purtat de femeile m!ritate, în vechime NUMAI de femeile
care n!scuser! cel pu#in un copil. Cf. nuometas.
nuometas Bonet! purtat! de femeile nem!ritate precum "i de o marti

(femeie m!ritat!, dar care înc! nu a n!scut); dup! prima na"tere, femeia va
purta obligatoriu muturas.
paraguone (cuvînt leton) Zîn! prezic!toare, cf. ragana.

pareitiniai „Banii care revin”: bani recent cheltui#i, dar care revin fostului
proprietar "i care aduc, în plus, "i al#i bani (monede) al!turi de care au stat o
perioad!.
Patrimpas Zeul prusac (prusian) al cerealelor; imaginat cu fa#a tîn!r!,
vesel, încoronat cu spice.
Patulas Zeul prusac (prusian) al lumii subp!mîntene.
Perk&nas Zeul tunetului "i fulgerului. Unii cercet!tori îl consider!
echivalentul baltic al zeului slav Perun, de"i aceast! ipotez! nu mai poate fi azi
sus#inut! (vezi acum "i alte discu#ii la Paliga 2006 a: 36–42).
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Pizius Zeul poftelor sexuale excesive; uneori, epitet al lui Bubilas. Cf.
Ganda.
plaukas ‘P!r (de animal), blan!’. Folosit în contextul unor credin#e legate
de p!rul sau de blana animalelor.
Praam#i(u)s Zeul uria"ilor, uneori echivalat cu Prakorimas.
Prakorimas Zeu antediluvian imaginat ca locuind în cer, aproximativ
echivalabil grecului Kronos, zeul primordial (a nu se confunda cu chronos,
timpul). Derivat din prakoriauti ‘a începe s! strici fagurii de miere = a culege
mierea’; prakorauti ‘a gusta primul din mîncarea sau din b!utura oferit!
cuiva’. Sensul prim: ‘a începe, început’. Cf. Praam'i(u)s.
Pu"kaitis Manifestare personificat! a p!mîntului care na"te piticii
barstukai. Cf. pu%kas ‘furuncul’. Cuvîntul românesc pu!chea, probabil
autohton traco!dac, pare înrudit cu forma lituanian!.
ragana, pl. raganos Zîn! malefic!, vr!jitoare.

ragas ‘Corn, semilun!’; de asemenea, numele tradi#ional al lunii ianuarie.
rytagoniai P!"unatul în zori.
sapnas ‘Vis’; în vechea lituanian! ‘somn’.

Saul! ‘Soarele (v!zut ca divinitate), Zeul!soare’ (de gen feminin în
lituanian!).
sikiai Hran! specific! pentru v$l$s.
skalsa Calitatea mitic! a unor produse consumabile dintr!o gospod!rie,
care permite men#inerea lor în aceea"i stare sau consumarea lor foarte lent!.
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Skerstuv!s S!rb!toarea jupuirii porcului "i, în consecin#!, s!rb!toarea

prepar!rii cîrna#ilor.
slogu$iai ‘Asupritoarele adormi#ilor’, epitet pentru laum$s ‘zîne’.
strampas ‘Bucat! de lemn’. Epitet ironic pentru aitvaras.
sveikas ‘S!n!tos, teaf!r’; sveikata ‘s!n!tate’.
"vitelis ‘foc (mi"c!tor) ce alunec! pe p!mînt’, epitet pentru Aitvaras,

aitvarai. Cf. 'altvik%a.
tarnaitis ‘Servitor’, în context servitorul Au%rin$!i. Diminea#a, acesta duce

vacile la p!scut, traversînd marea sau cerul.
tranas ‘trîntor’ (albina!mascul). Cuvîntul românesc trîntor, probabil
autohton traco!dac, pare înrudit cu forma lituanian!. Cf. tranelis.
tranelis ‘Viespe’. Uneori, echivalent pentru kaukas.
u#kuryst! Form! de înrudire prin care fiul se va stabili "i va locui în

gospod!ria cu o singur! fiic!. Numit! "i 'entyste sau isodija.
vaivoryk"t! ‘Cordonul Laim$!i = curcubeul’. Derivat din vaivoras ‘afin’.

Cf. linksmin$.
Vai#gantas Zeul inului.
vanduo Apa ca divinitate, apa sacr!.
vargas ‘S!r!cie’.
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233
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V!jas Zeul!vînt, care are patru fii: Rytys, Pietys, Vakaris "i )iaurys,
reprezentînd cele patru puncte cardinale.
v!l!, pl. v$l$s ‘Suflet’, mai ales (la plural) ‘sufletele mor#ilor’ (de gen
feminin în lituanian!).
*Veliona Form! reconstituit! din textele latine medievale: Zei#a mor#ilor
(cf. v$l$s). Mai probabil! este existen#a unui zeu *Velionis, cf. Veliuona,
hidronim în Samoge#ia.
v!liuos, pl. veliai S!rb!toarea mor#ilor, cf. v$l$(s).
Velnias Divinitate arhaic! ce st!pînea lumea sufletelor (v$l$s), asimilat!
între timp cu diavolul. Ca uria"i, velniai!i sînt a'uolaver&iai ‘r!sturn!tori de
stejari’, eglarau&iai ‘smulg!tori de brazi’, kalnaver&iai ‘d!rîm!tori de mun#i’.
V!#ys Regele racilor, imaginat ca un rac uria". Paznicul Domni"oarei
M!rilor.
#altvik"a Epitet pentru Aitvaras, similar cu %vitelis.

#em! P!mîntul divin, p!mîntul ca divinitate (de gen feminin în lituanian!);
'emininkai ‘spirite ale p!mîntului’; Cf. #emyna.
'em!patis Zeul protector al vitelor. Cf. #emyna.
(emyna Zei#a p!mîntului. Cf. 'em$
#entyst! Vezi u'kuryst$.
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234
Bibliographia
__________________________________________________________________
Bibliographia 1
Andreev, Nikolaj Dmitrievi! 1986. Ranne-indoevropskij prayazyk. Leningrad:

Nauka.
Andreev, N.D. 1986 b. Correlation between the simplicity of language typology
and the attainable degree of formalization in historical linguistics. Symposium on
Formalization in Historical Linguistics (Tallinn, November 24–26, 1986), ed. by
Mart Remmel. Tallinn: Academy of Sciences of Estonia.
Andreev, N.D. 1987. The importance of Estonian for Boreal reconstruction.
Symposium on Language Universals (Tallinn, July 28–30, 1987), ed. by Toomas
Help (responsible) and Sirje Murumets. Tallinn: Academy of Sciences of Estonia.
!op, Bojan 1974. Indouralica. Ljubljana: Slovenska akademija znanosti in
umetnosti (Dela/Opera vol. 30).
!op, Bojan 1975. Die indogermanische Deklination im Lichte der
indouralischen vergleichenden Grammatik. Indoevropska sklanjatev v lu!i
indouralske primerjalne slovnice. Ljubljana: Slovenska akademija znanosti in
umetnosti (Dela/Opera vol. 31).
Delitzsch, Friedrich 1873. Studien über indogermanisch-semitische
Wurzelverwandt-schaft. Leipzig: J. C. Hinnisch.
Krupa, Viktor, Jozef Genzor 1996. Jazyky sveta v priestore a "ase. 2nd. ed.
Bratislava: Veda.
O"tir, Karel 1921. Beiträge zur alarodischen Sprachwissenschaft, I. Wien-
Leipzig: Beyers Nachfolger.
Paliga, Sorin 1986. Ardeal, Transilvania. Tribuna (Cluj), nr. 8, 2o feb., pp. 1
and 6.
Paliga, S. 1987 a. Thracian terms for ‘township’ and ‘fortress’, and related
place-names. World Archaeology 19, l: 23–29.
1
The references mainly refer to the Lexicon Proto!Borealicum. For other
references, see the preceding (3rd) volume of this series.
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Paliga, S. 1988. A Pre-Indo-European place-name: Dalmatia. Linguistica
28:105–108.
Paliga, S. 1989 a. Types of mazes. Linguistica 29: 57–70.
Paliga, S. 1989 b. Old European, Pre-Indo-European, Proto-Indo-European.
Archaeological Evidence and Linguistic Investigation. The Journal of Indo-
European Studies 17, 3–4: 309–334.
Paliga, S. 1992 a. Ali obstajo ‘urbske’ prvine v slovanskih jezikih? (in Slovene
with an English abstract : Are there ‘Urbian’ elements in Slavic?). Slavisti!na
Revija 40, 3: 309–313.
Paliga, S. 1992 b. Un cuvînt str#vechi – ora$. Academica 2, 10 (22): 25.
Paliga, S. 1993 a. The Tablets of T#rt#ria – an Enigma? A Reconsideration and
Further Perspectives. Dialogues d’histoire ancienne 19, 1: 9–43.
Paliga, S. 1993 b. Metals, Words and Gods. Archaeometallurgical Skills and
Reflections in Terminology. Linguistica 33: 157–176.
Paliga, S. 1994. An Archaic Word: Doin". Relations thraco-illyro-helléniques.
Actes du XIVe symposium national de thracologie (à participation internationale),
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237
Already published in the series
În aceast! serie au ap!rut
Sorin Paliga, Opera Omnia
I Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous

(Thracian) Elements in Romanian
II Influen"e romane #i preromane în limbile slave

de sud
III Etymologica et Anthropologica Maiora
IV Lexicon Proto!Borealicum et alia lexica

etymologica minora

Lexicon Proto-Borealicum Et Alia Lexica Etymologica Minora

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Sorin Paliga

Revizia "tiin!ific# "i tehnoredactarea apar!in autorului

Funda!ia Evenimentul pentru Cultivarea p!cii "i a spiritului tolerant

Director General: Paul Tutungiu

I. A Proto-Boreal Lexicon. Introduction to the Archaic Heritage of the

III. 100 Slavic Basic Roots 197–222

IV. Glosar de termeni mitologici lituanieni 223–233

Volumul de fa!" este al patrulea din seria ini!iat" în 2006 de Editura

Sorin Paliga, iunie 2007

This volume is the fourth in the series initiated in 2006 by Evenimentul

Sorin Paliga, June 2007

With special reference

N. D. Andreev’s theory, labelled Proto-Boreal, surprised – I may say – the

The Proto-Boreal Linguistic Group

Before expanding on Andreev’s theory, we may briefly present it as a

Andreev identifies the following proto-phonemes:

Note. Gimbutas locates the Kurgan, or Proto-Indo-European, homeland

• The right element (root) of a compound changed into a modifier in IE,

The last stage was represented by an opposition r ~ n. It is ingenuously

Gradually the following structure was achieved:

a. vocalic variation as a result of a PB syllabeme with contextul

The Proto-Boreal Consonant System

PB Ky Gy Ghy Xy- -Xy- Y

Positional Syllabic Tamber

The syllabic tamber in PB depended on the two neighbouring

The three degreees of velar consonants in PB

(3) The intra-systemic argument represented by different meanings of roots:

*Kw-R ‘a worm’, *K-R ‘hard’, *Ky-R ‘herd’;

*S-Xw ‘to jump’, *S-X ‘sun’, *S-Xy ‘to sow, to seed’.

(4) Difference in treatment of PB simple and aspirated voiced consonants

Velar spirants and long contracted sounds. The case of spirant X.

The Proto-Boreal view as suggested by Andreev concludes a long chapter

Lexicon Etymologicum Proto-Borealicum

(1) *W-T- ‘year’, ‘long-living’

• It is debatable whether Rom. v"túi ‘a young, one-year old lamb’, may

(2) *T-W- ‘to keep, to hold; support’

(3) *T-M- ‘dark(ness)’

(4) *D-R- ‘to sting, to scratch’

(5) *D-W- ‘to cut; a knot, a stump; piece of wood’

(6) *X-D- ‘to catch game, to hunt’

(7) *Dh-R- ‘to drag along the road’

(8) *Dh-N- ‘connected to swidden agriculture; piece of (dry) land’

(9) *Dh-Xy- ‘power to make, to set, to found’

‘‘Fugitive” (degloe) character of $. There may be identified 17 roots in

Note 1: In Korean, both Boreal R and L became allophones of one double-

(11) *S-L ‘mud, mire; to crawl in mud; serpent; to slip’

(12) *S-W- ‘pregnant woman; to give birth; family, tribe’

(13) *N-W- ‘new’

(14) *N-X- ‘nose; to smell’

Liquid sonant L; see also (11) *S-L- above

(15) *L-W- ‘to untie, loose’

(16) *L-Y- ‘to stick; to remain’

(17) *P-W- ‘to clean; clean, pure’

Note. Many Tungus-Manchu languages weakened the initial Boreal P- to

(18) *P-Y- ‘a fish, any aquatic being; a bunch of dried fish’

(19) *P-Xy- ‘to blow’

(20) *B-Xw- ‘to swell, inflate; a prominence’

(21) *B-L- ‘tall; height’

• Cf. Rom. bal", balaur(e) ‘a dragon’ (typical mythic figure of the

(22) *B-X ‘to mumble; to babble; to speak furiously, angrily’

(23) *Bh-Xw ‘a child, a baby; to give birth; to bring forth

(25) *Bh-L ‘a bladder; to swell’

(26) *M-R- ‘death; to die’

Kw-R ‘a worm’, K-R ‘hard’, *Ky-R ‘herd’;

S-Xw ‘to jump’, S-X ‘sun’, *S-Xy ‘to sow, to seed’.

PIE Palato-velar phonemes (&'()'()+') had two foci of articulation.

Palatovelar %')changed to ' after a stressed syllable, and to L before a

Type Q1-J2 (see also above examples 4: D-R-; 36: Gh-W)