Václav Blažek

Celtic-Anatolian Isoglosses 1. Old Irish airne "stone" ȁ Anatolian *p"r, obl. *parn o "house" On Old Irish airne "stone" Vendryes (1959: A-48) has written: '.. . au sens où l'on emploie d'ordinaire le mot lia pour désigner une pierre dressée sur une tombe. Sans étymologie.' This rather pessimistic conclusion need not be definitive. The projection *arn-i o Ͻ *pân-allows to identify a promising cognate in the Anatolian word for "house":

Balor-"the blind-eyed"? Balor (with variants Balar and archaic Bolar), the monstrous one-eyed king of Fomorians, was much-feared for his evil piercing eye (biruderc suil milldach, cf. Cath Maige Tuired § § 133-135). The existing etymologies of his name are certainly not definitive: 1) O'Rahilly (1957: 59) projected the name in Celtic *boleros, deriving it from *b h el-"to flash". 2) Kalygin (1997: 367-69) proposed the starting point *g w äro-, a derivative from *g w el-"to kill". In principle, both the etymologies are possible, but rather vague from the point of view of semantics. With respect to the functional parallelism between Balor and Oáinn in Old Irish and Old Norse traditions respectively, one of the epithets of the latter, báleygr "fire-eyed" (Gylfaginning 20), is compatible with the idea of O'Rahilly. On the other hand, Oáinn is also characterized as bileygr "lame-eyed" (Grimnismál 47). The latter epithet represents a compound *+ilau †iz derivable from *b h el-& *Hok w i-. Is it possible to identify a comparable structure in Balor? The main purpose of this paper is to prove the positive answer. Our solution starts from a hypothetical compound *b h ol-H(o)k w lo-Ȁ "blind(ing) eyed" giving regularly Celtic *bolVqlo-(V = o/a depending on the presence or absence-o-in the latter component) which could further could further be dissimilated into Goidelic *bolaqro-or *boraqlo-(cf. Old Irish araile besides alaile "the other", also Welsh ereill id., or Irish lemlacht "sweet milk" vs.

Photo from https://www.rsuh.ru/who_is_who/detail.php?ID=4603 Vladimir Antonovič Dybo died at the impressive age of 92 years old on May 7, 2023. Since his academic career has already been well-described, 1 I will mainly concentrate on his younger years and on his ancestry. I would also like to add several personal memories of this exceptional man. Vladimir A. Dybo was born on April 30, 1931 in the village of Pyrohivka (Пирогівка = Russian Пирогoвка) on the Desna River in the Sumskaja Region in the northernmost part of Ukraine. His father, Anton Timofeevič Dybo, was an employee of the railroad system, and during the Russian Civil War worked as an anti-communist political activist. Vladimir Dybo's ancestors in his father's line were Cossacks from Zaporižžja. His maternal grandmother originated from the Cossack community in the region of the Don, and his maternal grandfather was Polish.

In the present study the Latvian mēle 'tongue', an isolate within the Baltic lexicon, is studied from the point of view of its etymology. The existing etymological attempts operate with the semantic development 'speech' → 'language' → 'tongue', which is naturally quite legitimate, but in the three concrete cases analyzed here is not convincing enough. The new solution connects the Latvian mēle 'tongue', reflecting the Proto-Baltic *mēlii̯ ā, with another isolate in the Indo-European anatomical lexicon, the Common Tocharian *mele-'nose', reflecting the Pre-Tocharian *moloor *mēlo-. The semantic connection between 'tongue' and 'nose' is not trivial, but there are strong arguments for its acceptance, if 'tongue' is interpreted as 'taster' and 'nose' is interpreted as 'smeller'.

The contribution attempts to solve the relation of two legendary tribal patriarchs, called Crocco by Cosmas Pragensis and Crak in Chronica Poloniae Maioris. Their names are discussed from the point of view of comparative mythology in perspective of Roman mythological traditions and put to the etymological analysis. Together there are summarized and evaluated seven etymological attempts here. The result is that the oldest one based on the bird-name derived from the verb 'to croak, caw', formulated already by the Polish annalists in the 13th cent., seems to be the most promising one. To explain the difference between the root vowels, Czech o vs. Polish a, it is necessary to assume the Polabian origin of the name Crocco.

The contribution summarises the Beja lexicon connected with natural phenomena, including astronomical, temporal, and geographical terminology. Every lexeme is documented in available sources and etymologized in areal or genealogical perspectives. In the case of borrowings, the ambition is to trace primary donor-languages, usually Arabic or Ethio-Semitic, sometimes Nilo-Saharan. The inherited lexemes are identified, if no convincing donors were determined, while there are promising comparanda in other Cushitic, Omotic or other Afroasiatic branches.

The contribution summarizes the linguistic results of Baltic studies produced in Czech Lands from their beginning represented by Celakovský and Schleicher to the present (2014). Included are also doctoral, master and bachelor theses defended at Czech academical centres.

PRŪSŲ KALBOS ŽUVŲ PAVADINIMAI Santrauka Prūsų kalbos 25 žuvų pavadinimų etimologinis tyrimas leidžia daryti tokias isvadas: 1) septyni žodžiai laikytini skoliniais: penkių saltinio reikia ieskoti vidurio vokiecių aukstaicių ar žemaicių kalboje, po vieną yra kile is rytų slavų ir galbūt svedų kalbų; 2) didžiąją dalį tiriamos ichtioniminės leksikos sudaro prūsų ar baltų dariniai. Tipiskiausia semantinė motyvacija – žuvies spalva ar būdingi judesiai. Astuoniais atvejais ichtioniminių giminaicių aptinkama ne baltų kalbose, dažniausiai – slavų (6 žodžiai, is kurių 2 ar 3 laikytini separatinėmis izoglosomis). Dvi separatinės izoglosos prūsų kalbą sieja su germanų kalbomis; 3) prūsai drauge su kitomis baltų kalbomis islaikė didžiai archajiską rūsinį žuvies pavadinimą ide. *d h ģ h uH-. Is atskirų pavadinimų archajiskiausiais laikytini *lok(s)– (vienos is lasisinių seimos žuvų vardas) ir ungurio pavadinimas, padarytas is *H 2 eng uh (i)– ‘gyvatė’.

The present contribution discusses the question of originality of the text The Tale of Igor's Campaign [Slovo o polku Igorevě] from the point of view of its lexemes, both appellatives and proper names, which can be of oriental origin. The etymological analysis supported by modern lexicographic literature confirms the originality of proposed Orientalisms, especially in confrontation with the assumed Bohemisms and Hebraisms by Edward Keenan.

This discourse puts forward arguments for the complete validity of Pedersen's Law, also called 'Lex RUKI', in Proto-Baltic (or an early Baltic dialect) in all positions. This conclusion was formulated based on an analysis of the early Baltic borrowings into Finnic.

This contribution analyzes the geographical name Θούλη, first recorded by Pytheas of Massalia in the period 330-325 BCE and mediated especially by Polybius, Strabo, Pliny and Procopius. Björn Collinder (1935/1936) designated this term as the earliest datable document of the Germanic Lautverschiebung. He also offered an appealing etymology, explaing the toponym on the basis of Old Norse þaularvágr "winding creek", i.e. a place especially characteristic of the West Norwegian coast with its winding fjords. In the present study an alternative etymology by Torp is also analyzed, interpreting the toponym as a wooded place with regard to Old Norse þollr m. "tree, fir-tree, pine-tree", and the witness of Procopius of Caesarea on the exceedingly large forests in Thule ['The Gothic War' VI.15]. Independently of whether either of the solutions of Collinder or Torp is correct, around 330 BCE the First Germanic Sound Shift should already have been operating.

Etymological studies have long tried to establish common IE designations for astronomical terminology by comparing Anatolian and non-Anatolian branches of Indo-European languages. This overview recapitulates and expands on the current state of research, detailing the cases in which correspondence between the two branches could not be found, and whether other linguistic roots can be suggested. The most archaic Indo-European terms designating celestial bodies are those whose roots can be reconstructed for both Anatolian and non-Anatolian Indo-European. Only **H2ster-"star" fulfills this condition. In the case of the non-Anatolian **seH2u̯ el-"sun" and **meH1ns-"moon", attempts have been made to identify etymological Anatolian counterparts, but the results of such efforts are not generally accepted. The word for "sun" may originate from the Nostratic protolanguage, while for "star" borrowing from Semitic is not excluded, and the designation for "moon" probably expresses the basic idea of "measure of time". Non-Anatolian languages feature several other terms which are attested in at least two branches. In some cases, they probably reflect independent formations: for example, **H2reu̯-i-"sun" (but "moon" in Old Irish), *lou̯ k(e)sno-/-(e)snā "moon" < "light", and *(s)ke/ond-"moon". The Balto-Slavic *ĝ (h) u̯ oi̯ sd (h) ā equally represents a local dialectism which may be derived from the compound *g u̯ h /ĝ u̯ h u̯ oi̯ d-"shining [spot]" and **d h eH1-"to put" or **steH2-"to stand". Also remarkable are the common semantic models that emerge in the designations of some constellations, namely the Pleiades = "basket or sieve", "numerous" or "seven stars", and Sirius = "(belonging to) three stars", which appear across Northern Eurasia, especially in the Fenno-Ugric languages.

The purpose of this contribution is to separate Baltic *kalu̯ā "hill" from Baltic *kalnas "mountain" and to connect it with Indo-Aryan *kū́lva-, Iranian *karu̯a-"thin-haired"; Greek *κόλϝος "docked, hornless"; Italic *kalau̯o-& *kalau̯ā "bald (head)", and the Pre-Romance oronym *kalauos, besides the Gaulish cognomen calaua. The semantic shift from "bald" to "hill" is supported by numerous examples of "bald hills".

In the present contribution the Beja botanical terminology is analyzed from the point of view of semantic motivation. The study is limited only to the unborrowed part of the botanical lexicon (with some exceptions), together 76 terms. First 51 terms are etymologized with help of external comparisons with probable cognates in other Cushitic or Afroasiatic languages. The last 25 terms are understandable from the point of view of internal etymology and their semantic motivation is more transparent than in the preceding cases.

The present study summarizes the anatomic lexicon of Beja, the only representative of the North Cushitic branch according to all relevant sources published during last two centuries. This dialectological material is compared with probable or possible counterparts in other Cushitic branches and further, in the Afroasiatic perspective, with Omotic, Chadic, Berber, Egyptian and Semitic lexical data, all in agreement with historical phonology formulated in Blažek 2007. Several etymological studies devoted to thematic parts of the Beja lexicon were already published:

This contribution summarizes all published etymological attempts to explain the Common Slavic word *ryba "fish". A critical examination in the light of semantic parallels favors two proposed etymological solutions which confirm the comparison with West Germanic *rūbō "caterpillar; burbot, eelpout". Finally, external parallels from Balto-Fennic languages are adduced in perspective of areal interference.