Illyrian Languages - Illyrian Vocabulary

Illyrian Vocabulary

Since there are no Illyrian texts, sources for identifying Illyrian words have been identified by Hans Krahe as being of four kinds: inscriptions, glosses of Illyrian words in classical texts, names—including proper names (mostly inscribed on tombstones), toponyms and river names—and Illyrian loanwords in other languages. The last category has proven particularly contentious. The names occur in sources that range over more than a millennium, including numismatic evidence, as well as posited original forms of placenames. There are no Illyrian inscriptions (Messapian inscriptions are treated separately, and there is no consensus that they are to be reckoned as Illyrian). The spearhead found at Kovel and thought by some to be Illyrian is considered by the majority of runologists to be Eastern Germanic, and most likely Gothic, while a votive inscription on a ring found near Shkodër which was initially interpreted as Illyrian was shown to actually be Byzantine Greek.

Only a few Illyrian words are cited in classical sources by Roman or Greek writers, and of these only four are identified with an ethnonym Illyrii or Illurioí; others must be identified by indirect means:

attestation English meaning etymology cognates
*abeis "snakes" PIE *h₂engʷʰis Lat. anguis, Old High Germ. unc, Lith. angìs, Gk. ókhis "snake", ekhis "viper", Toch. auk "snake", Arm. auj, Russ. , Skt. áhis, Av. aži
*bagaron "warm" PIE *bʰōg- Alb. bukë "bread", Phrygian bekos "bread", Eng. bake, Lat. focus "hearth", Old Ir. goba "blacksmith", Gk. phōgein "to roast", Armenian bosor "red", bots "flame"
*brisa "husk of grapes" PIE *bʰruti̯eh₂ Alb. bërsí "lees, dregs; mash", Eng. broth, Lat. defrutum "new wine boiled down", Welsh brwd "brewage", Old Ir. bruth "heat, wrath", Thrac. brỹtos "barley alcohol", brỹtion "wine must", Gk. apéphrysen "to seethe, boil", ? Lith. bręsti "to mature, ripe", brendimas "ripening", also brinkti "to swell", brinkìmas "swelling" ?
*deuádai "satyrs" PIE *dʰu̯ésmi Alb. dash "ram", Skt. dhūnoti "he shakes", Gk. thýein "to rage, seethe", théeion "sulfur vapor", Eng. dizzy, Paeonian Dýalos "Dionysos", Lat. furere "to rage", belua "wild animal", Old Ir. dásacht "rage, fury", Lith. dvėsti "to croak, perish, die (animals)", dvelksmas "breath, waft, aura", Hitt. tuhhai "to gasp", Rus. dɨhanije "breath, waft", duh "spirit, soul, mind, ghost, wind" also used to describe someone's "aliveness, breathing, willingness, meaningfullness, truthfulness", dušá "spirit, soul", also "heart, kindness, truthfulness", etc.
*mandos "small horse" PIE *mendi̯os Alb. mëz, mâz "pony", Thrac. Mezēnai "divine horseman", Mess. Iuppiter Menzanas (divinity)
*mantía "bramblebush" PIE *? NGheg Alb. mandë, Alb. mën, man "berry, mulberry"; borrowed into Romansch mani "raspberry"
*rinos "fog, mist" PIE *h₁rinéHti Old Alb. ren, mod. Alb. re, rê "cloud", rij, rî 'to make humid'; further to Gk. (Lesbian) orínein "to move", Old Ch. Slav. rinǫti "to flow", Skt. riṇá-ti "to pour, let flow"
*sabaia, *sabaium, *sabaius "a type of beer" PIE *sap- Eng. sap, Lat. sapere "to taste", Skt. sabar "sap, juice, nektar", Avestan višāpa "having poisonous juices", Arm ham, Gk. hapalós "tender, delicate", Old Ch. Slav. sveptŭ "bee's honey"; borrowed into Lat. and from there into Ital. zabaglione "frothy drink"
*sibina (Lat. sibyna ~ sybina); σιβυνη (Gk.), σιβυνης (Gk.), συβινη (Gk.), ζιβυνη (Gk.) Festius, citing Ennius is compared to συβηνη (Gk.), "flute case", a word found in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusai; the word appears in the context of a barbarian speaking "a hunting spear", generally, "a spear", "pike" PIE * Alb. thupër "bar, stick", Pers. zôpîn, Arm. səvīn "a spit"
*sika (Lat. sica ~ sicca) First mentioned in Ennius (Annals, 5.540): Illyrii restant sicis sybinisque fodentes, of Illyrian soldiers; later used in Pliny to describe Thracian implements "curved knife, dagger" PIE *ḱeh₁kʷeh₂ Alb. thikë 'knife', Old Ir. cath "wise", Lat. cōs, (gen. cōtis) "whetstone", catus "sharp, acute", Eng. hone, Arm. sur "sharp", srem "to sharpen", Avest. saēni "pot", sal "slab, anvil", Skt. śitá "sharp"; borrowed into Lat. sicca "dagger", Lat. sicarii "assassins"

Some additional words have been extracted by linguists from toponyms, hydronyms, anthroponyms, etc.:

  • Agruvium "along the coast between Risinum and Butua": IE *aĝr-; cf. Skt. ájraḥ "pasture, field", Lat. ager, Gk. agrós, Goth. akrs
  • Bindus "river god"; cf. Alb. bind ‘to convince, to make believe’, cf. Old Ir. banne "drop", Skt. bindú, vindú "drops, gob, spot", possibly Lat. fōns Bandusiae
  • Bosona "Bosna river", literally "running water": IE *bheg-, bhog- "to run"; Alb. bëj (North. Albanian boj) "do, make", North. Alb bosi "doer, maker", cf. Old Ch. Slav. bĕžati "to flee, run", Lith. bėgti "to flee", Gk. phébesthai "to flee", phóbos "fear", Eng. beck "brook, stream", Middle Ir. búal "flowing water", Hindi bhāg "to flee"
  • mons Bulsinus "Büžanim hill": IE *bʰl̥kos; cf. Eng. balk, Middle Ir. blog "piece, fragment", Lat. fulcrum "bedpost", Gk. phálanx "trunk, log", Lith. balžiena "crossbar", Serb. blazína "roof beam", Skt. bhuríjāu "cart arms"
  • Derbanoí, Anderva: IE *derw; cf. Eng. tree, Alb. dru "wood", Old Ch. Slav. drĕvo "tree", Rus. dérevo "tree, wood", Welsh derw "oak", Gk. dóry "wood, spear", drýs "oak, tree", Lith. derva "pine wood", Hitt. taru "tree, wood', Thrac. taru "spear", Skt. dru "tree, wood", daru "wood, log"
  • Dizēros, Andízētes: IE *digh; cf. Eng. dough, Gk. teîkhos "wall", Lat. fingere "to shape, mold", Old Ir. com-od-ding "he builds, erects", Old Rus. dĕža "kneading trough", Arm. dez "heap", Skt. dehah "body, form"
  • Domator, personal name; cf. Old Ir. damnaid "he binds, breaks a horse", dam "ox", Eng. tame, dialectal Germ. zamer "ox not under the yoke", Alb. dem "young bull", Lat. domāre "to tame", domitor "tamer", Gk. dámnēmi "to break in", dámalos "calf", Skt. dāmyáti "he is tame; he tames", Rus. odomashnivat' "to tame"
  • Loúgeon: Strabo in his Geography mentions "a marsh called Lougeon" (which has been identified as Lake Cerknica in Slovenia) by the locals (Illyrian and Celtic tribes), Lougeon being Strabo's rendition of the local toponym into Greek. cf. Alb. lag "to wet, soak, bathe, wash", lëgatë "pool", lug "trough, water-channel, spillway", Lith. liűgas "pool", Old Ch. Slav. & Rus. luža "pool", Rus. ležátj "to lie, rest, lounge" and ložitj "to lay, put", Thrac. Lýginos, river name
  • stagnus Morsianus "marshlands in Pannonia": IE *merĝ; cf. Middle High Germ. murc "rotten, withered, boggy", Old Ir. meirc "rust", Alb. marth "to shiver, shudder", Lith. markýti "to rust"
  • Naro: IE *nor; cf. Lith. nãras "diving duck; diver", Russ. norá "hole", Serbo-Croat. po-nor "abyss"
  • Nedinum: IE *ned; cf. Skt. nadas "roarer"
  • Oseriates "lakes": IE *h1eĝʰero; cf. Serb-Croat. jȅzero, Rus. ózero, Lith. éžeras, Latvian ȩzȩrs, Gk. Achérōn "river in the underworld"
  • Pelso (Latin authors referred to modern Lake Balaton as "lacus Pelso", Pelso being a hydronym from the local inhabitants), Pelso apparently meant "deep" or "shallow": IE *pels-; North Alb. fellë (from fell "deep"), cf. Czech pleso "deep place in a river, lake", Welsh bwlch "crack", Arm. pelem "to dig"
  • Tergitio "merchant"; Alb. tregtar (from treg, market), cf. Old Ch. Slav. trĭgŭ (Serbo-Croat tȑg) "market", Rus. torg "bargain", Lith. tūrgus, Latv. tirgus, Swed. torg. This group is considered to be cognate with the Italian city name of Trieste
  • Teuta, Teutana: IE *teuta- "people"; cf. Lith. tauta "people", Germ. Deutsch "German", Old Eng. theod "people", Old Ir. túath "clan", Umbrian tota "people", Oscan touto "city", Hitt. tuzzi "army"; cf. Alb. (northern Albanian, or Gheg dialect) tetanë "all" (possible archaic Albanian synonym for "people").
  • Ulcisus mons, Ulcinium (city), Ulcisia castra: cf. Eng. wolf, Old Alb. ulk, Alb. ujk, Avestan vəhrkō, Persian gurg, Skt. vṛkas, Old Ch. Slav. vlŭkŭ, Russ. volk, volčíca, Lith. vil̃kas, Lat. lupus, Gk. lýkos
  • Volcos, river name in Pannonia; cf. Old Ir. folc "heavy rain, wet weather", Welsh golchi "to wash", obsolete Eng. welkin "cloud", Old High Germ. welk "moist", Old Ch. Slav. and Rus. vlaga "moisture, plant juice", ? vŭlgŭkŭ "wet", Latv. val̃gums "wetness", Alb. ulmej "to dampen, wet"

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Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:

    One forgets words as one forgets names. One’s vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.
    Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)