4. Germanic Languages

7/28/2019 4. Germanic Languages

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Germanic Languages

Klaipda,

2013


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Eastern and Western branchesof the Indo-European family


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astern an esternbranches of the Indo-

European family


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astern an esternbranches of the Indo-

European family


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Words used in four languageswith corresponding meanings


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Indo-Europeanand

Primitive Germanic


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Nouns

Nouns of Indo-European origin can bedivided into several thematic groups:

1) Kinship terms

2) Names of animals and plants3) Names of body parts

4) Names of geographical concepts and

natural phenomenon5) Other names


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Kinship termsThe majority of nouns of this group belong to the -r- stem:

father: Sanskr.pitr-, Gr.patr, Lat.pater, Old Irishathir, Arm. hayr, Goth. fadar

mother: Sanskr. mtr-, Gr. mtr, Lat. mter, OldIrish mthir, Old Slav. -, Old Icelandic mir, OldEnglish mdor

brother: Sanskr. bhrtar-, Gr.phrtr, Lat. frter, OldIrish brthir, Old Slav. , Goth. brar

sister: Sanskr. svsar-, Lat. soror, Old Irish siur, Lith.seser-, Old Slav. , Goth. swistar

Besides the above mentioned examples, Indo-Europeanwords with the meanings of son, daughter, daughter-inlaw, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law,sister-in-law, son-in-law, etc. also belong to this thematic

group.


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Names of animals and plantsNouns of Indo-European origin can denote domestic and wild animals,

birds, insects, etc.:

herd: Sanskr. pcuh, Lat. pecus, Goth. fahu, Old High Germ. fihu

ox and cow: Sanskr. guh, Gr.bos, Lat. bs, Irishb, Avest.gu,Arm. kov, Old Slav. , Old High Germ. kuo

sheep and ewe: Sanskr. vih, Gr. os, Lat. ouis, Lith. avis, Irish oi,Old Slav. , Old High German ouwi

wolf: Sanskr. vkah, Gr. lykos, Lat. lupus, Lth. vilkas, Goth. wulfs

crane: Gr.granos, Lat.grs, Lith.grv, Arm. krunk, Old Slav., Old English cran, Middle High Germ. krane, Old Icelandic

trani

Words with the meaning of stallion, mare, goat and she-goat,

dog, bear, mouse, deer, bird, eagle, thrush, goose, duck,

snake, fly, hornet, wasp, bee, worm, etc. also belong to this group.


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Names of trees

The names of trees are less likely to have an Indo-

European etymology and are usually found in fewerlanguages:

tree (a plant and material): Hit. taru, Sanskr.

dru, Gr. drutree, shaft, Lith. dervfir tree,Old Slav., Old Irish daur, Goth. triu, OldEnglish tro(w)tree

beech: Gr.phgs, Lat. fgus, Old Icelandic bk,Old High Germ. Buohha

The denotations of birch, alder, willow, oak, elm,yew, and the names of some grain plants are alsoIndo-European.


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Etymology of the word grain

A word grain Lat.grnum, Old Irishgrn,Old Slav. , Old Prussian syrne,

Goth. karn is found only in those

languages that have a stem *s-to sow

(Old Slav. , Lith.sti, Goth. saian,Old Irish slsowing, Lat.smena seed)

and can not be found in Indo Iranian,

Armenian, Greek languages.


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Names of body partsSome isoglosses of the names of body parts include the whole Indo-

European area, while others characterize a bigger or a smaller

number of IE languages, but not all:

heart: Sanskr. hd-, Gr. kardia, Lat. cord-, Lith. irds, Hit. kardi-,Arm. sirt, Old Slav. , Goth. harto

tooth: Sanskr. dn, Gr. odn, Lat. dns, Lith. dants, Goth. tunus,

Old English t, Old High Germ. zand foot: Sanskr.pt, Gr.pos, Lat.ps, Goth. ftus, Old English ft,

Old High Germ. fuoz, Old Icelandic ftr

The words of this thematic group also include the names of such

concepts as knee, ear, liver, blood, eyes, ears, head, eyebrow,

nose, bone, nail, elbow, hip, hand, etc. In some cases isoglosses ofthis group have three or only two areas, for example words having

the meaning of mouth or lip: Lat. mentumchin, Celt. mantjaw,

Goth. munsmouth; Lat. labia, labralips, Pers. lab, Old English lippa

lip; Old Neth. lippe, Middle Low Germ. lippe, Old Frisian lippa, OldIcelandic lepor.

N f hi l


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Names of geographicalconcepts and natural

phenomenon sea: Lat. mare, Lith. mrs(pl.), Lettish marebay,

Old Slav. , Old irish muir, Goth. mar-, Old Englishmere, Old High Germ. meri, Old Icelandic marr

snow: Lat. nix(*snigwhs), Gr. npha, Old Irish snechti,Old Slav. , Old Prussian snaygis, Lith. sniegas,Goth. snaiws, Old English snw, Old High Germ. sno

Common Indo-European words that denote naturalphenomenon and the characteristics of the environment

are not always identical in their meanings:

clay: Lat. lmusscum, silt; Old English lmglue, Old

High Germ. lmlime


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Other names

To this group belong the names of otherobjects that have been present in the Germanic,as well as in some other Indo-Europeanlanguages:

wheel: Lat. rota, Old Irish roth, Lith. ratas,Old High Germ. rad

vessel: Sanskr. nuh, Pers. nv, Arm. naw, Gr.nas, Lat. nuis, Irish nau, Old Icelandic nr harrow: Lat. occa, Welsh oged, Lith. akios,

Lettish ecas, Breton oguet, Old English

eee, Old High Germ. egida


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VerbsA great number of stems indicate that there were common denotations

of the Indo-European area for such concepts as to live,todie, to

drink,to eat, to sleep, to be awake, to lick, to bite,totake, to

leave, tosee, to hear, to think, to know, to go, torun, and others;

certain kinds of jobs and occupations were also denoted in the same way:

to know: Sanskr.jnyate(he/she) knows, Gr.gignsk(I) know, Lat.cognsc, Hit. kaneszi, Old Slav. , Lith. inti, Goth. kunnan

to sleep: Sanskr. svpitihe/she sleeps, Old Slav. , OldEnglish swefan, Old High Germ. swefan; compare Gr. hpnossleep/dream, Lith. spnassleep/dream

to plough: Lat. ar, Gr. r, Irish airim, Lith. arti, Old Slav. ,Goth. arjan

to milk: Gr.amlgein, Lat. mulge, Lith. mlzu, Irish mligim, OldEnglish melcan, Old High Germ. melchan

to sew: Sanskr. svyatihe/she sews, Lat. suere, Lith. sitito sew,Old Slav. , Goth. siujan, Old English siwan, Old High Germ. siuwen


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Adjectives

The oldest Indo-European adjectivesdenote things as new, old, young, ancient,some colors: new: Gr. ne(w)os, Lat. novus, Rus. ,

Goth. niujis, Old English niwe, Old HighGerm. niuwi, Old Icelandic nr red: Sanskr. rudhirh, Gr. eruthrs, Lat.

rubber, Irish rad, Old Slav., Ukr.

, Goth. raus hot: Sanskr.gharmhheat, Gr. thermos,

Lat. formus, Goth. warmjanto heat,Germ. warm, English warm


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NumeralsGermanic numerals belong to the oldest by

its origin class of words and all have Indo-European parallels, for example:

eight: Sanskr. at, Gr. okt, Lat. oct,

Lith. atuoni, Old Irish ocht, Old Slav., Goth. ahtau

nine: Sanskr. da, Gr. dka, Lat. decem,

Lith. deimt-, Old Slav.-, Goth.tahun

hundred: Sanskr. atm, Gr. (he)-katn,Lat. centum, Avest. satm, Lith. imtas,

Old Slav. , Goth. hund


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Pronouns

A lot of personal, demonstrative, question-relativeand reflexive pronouns stems have common

Indo-

European etymology: I: Sanskr. ahm, Gr. eg(n), Lat. ego, Old

Slav. , Hit. uk, Goth. ik

me (Acc.): Sanskr. mm, Gr. em, Lat. m,

Old Slav. , Hit. amuk, Goth. mik that: Sanskr. sa, Gr. , Old Slav. , Goth.

sa that (Acc.): Sanskr. tam, Gr. tn, Old Slav.

, Lith. to, Goth. ana,


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Prepositions, conjunctions

for: Sanskr. pra-, Lat. pro, Rus. , Lith.pro, Goth. far, Old English for, Old High

Germ. fora, Old Icelandic fyr

of: Sanskr. pa, Gr. ap, Lat. ab, Goth.af, Old English of, Old Icelandic af

at: Lat. ad, Goth. at, Old English t, Old

High Germ. az, Old Icelandic at

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