Читать книгу Etymology of meanings. Brief etymological dictionary of planetary toponyms. At the origins of civilization - Alexander Tokiy - Страница 6

Language was born out of feelings and meanings. The sense organs gave a person a multi-colored palette of such creative associations. “Everyone hears how he or she breathes”—it is not surprising that a number protoroots originated from the breath sounds. Even in the very word “dykhanie” (breath) this ancient semantic intuition remains. Really, what do we hear when we breathe? The natural, independent of our will, breathing sound is the sound “kh”, combined with various vowel sounds:" kha”, ” kho”, ” khe”, ” khi”, ” akh”, ” okh”, “ukh”. The sound “kh” has become a language protoroot with common meanings related to breathing.

Later, the sounds of breathing became associated with the soul of a person. Breathing means that you are alive. If he\she doesn’t breathe it means that his\her soul has left. For example, when I was a child, my mother would often tell me when she was buttoning the top buttons of my clothes: “You are open-hearted.” And I knew that “soul” is my breathed chest. And to give up the ghost means to lose the “kho”, the air. You can easily remember the words formed by the simplest sounds of breathing: “dykho” (“trachea”), “tikho” (quiet), “ukho” (ear), “ekho” (echo), “likho” (evil\trouble). Even God—“bhoga”—grants breath. This group includes interjections: “akh”, “okh”, ” ukh”, “ekh”. Even the particle “ish” has its physiological origin in the respiratory.

But everything evolves and in the process of evolution protoroots also found new meanings. There is a simple example. At rest, a person breathes easily, freely: inhale and then exhale. Sounds are simple, ordinary. And if a person moves for a long time, and even uphill, and even with the luggage, and even in the “formation” of his fellow tribesmen, who set a certain rhythm – what happens to the breath? There’s not enough air. Breathing becomes “heavy”. And the sounds of breathing also change – instead of a light sound “kh”, you can already hear a heavy, slightly “hoarse” combination of sounds “kh” and “g”.

Let’s complicate the situation. Imagine that our ancient ancestors were walking along the mountains and valleys, and suddenly the path ends – where must they go next? Tired and out of breath, people started looking around and presumably showing each other where to go. What sounds would they use to support their gestures? It is clear – sounds of “heavy” and “open” breathing, with sound “ga” at the base. This sound, mixed with hoarseness and fatigue, received the meaning of way\path, movement and direction.

Protoroot “ga” “grows” everywhere with a variety of pronunciation. On the map of our planet you will find hundreds and hundreds of names formed by this protogoot in the meaning of “way”: Gava, Hanover, Hamburg, Kaluga, Prague, Go, Volga, Riga, Malaga and hundreds of others. In Russian, the first thing that comes to mind is the word “doroga” (road). In addition to it, there are a variety of options: “gat’” (swamp road), “gatit’” (build a road through a swamp, a swampy place), “gay” (pave the way through the forest), “poganyy” (nasty\bad (what is lying along the road)) and even “gad” (reptile). The words formed by this protoroot can be found in both English and German: “go”, “gehen” (to go) and others.

However, the evolution of breath sounds did not end with the meaning of “way” or “direction”. Gradually, the sound “ga” became associated with those who lead the way, with those who go ahead – and therefore know where to go. The leading becomes the knowing. Next comes a reinterpretation of protoroot – the basis remains the same, but the pronunciation from the sounds “kh” and “g” becomes closer to the consonant “k”. And there are new diverse meanings of this sound: “leading”, “knowing”, “main”, “smart”, “thinking”. Although these meanings may seem varied at first glance, they all indicate the ability to think. So, the name of the Chinese game “Go” combines several meanings of this sound. At first I was surprised at the speculative nature of my conclusions, but than I immersed in this speculation more, that I understood my rightness again and again.

What words were formed with protoroot “ka” in its various shades? First of all, they touched the head, which is not only to wear a hat (by the way, this is also reflected in the words). For example, “kapusta” (cabbage)—in Russian it means “empty head”, “kaun” (melon), “kachan” (head of cabbage), “kalgan” (head), “kapa” (kind of hat), “kapyushon” (hood), “kepka” (cap) and others. The words “khalif” (the khalif), “kagan” (a title of imperial rank in the Turkic and Mongolic languages), “kasta” (caste) and the Capitol have the same protoroot. In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, you can find the same root word “kapata”, which has the meaning “trick”, “deception”, but comes from the same meaning: “the ability to think.” And in the maloyanisol dialect of my ancestors has a word “gaka”, which means “big brother”. How could such word appear? —I think that this is “the first-born”, “going ahead”. And there are a lot of such interesting phenomena in the language.

There is another meaning derived from the sounds of breathing – the Greek word “ego” (εγώ), which translates as “I”. In the older maloyanisol dialect, the word “I” sounds simpler— “go”. Moreover, my grandmother did not pronounce a solid “go”, but again mixed sounds “g” and “kh”, closer to “kho”. The “e” sound in the Greek word “ego” is the sound of “belonging”. Literally, it means “this is me.” If we compare the Greek “ego” and the Russian word “ekho” (echo), it will be clear that it is the same. The echo is a returning sound of my voice, “this is me.”

All the basic sounds and protoroots associated with human physiology and its primary needs. You don’t have to go far – just remember your basic needs. What is the most important thing for a person? It needs air to breathe, it needs food to keep from starving, and it needs water. In addition, he\she needs to continue the family line, needs security, a roof over head, and other needs that are reflected in the language. Therefore, it is objective that besides the sounds of breathing, the first roles in the meaning-making had the “sounds of food”.

Man is a mammalian creature, breastfed. This is why, from infancy, from unconscious memory, we reproduce this deep key sound of the compressed lips —“m” and the following sound of the opening lips—“ma”. In almost all languages the word “mama” (mother) includes this ancient, imbibed with mother’s milk, protoroot. But with feeding, the child uses not only the lips but also the tongue. The tongue presses the nipple of the breast to the palate, and the milk falls on the taste buds of the child’s tongue under pressure. What sound is formed when the tongue pressed to the roof of the mouth? It is a sound “n”. In some languages this sound forms the word “nana” with the meaning “mother”. Nurses are traditionally called “nyanyas” (wet-nurses). And the famous “nyam-nyam” (yum-yum) is just a fusion of two feeding sounds “n” and “m”. By the way, when it is especially delicious, children like to click their tongue and pronounce the famous children’s word “naka”, which means “delicious”. In English this word sounds a little different: “nice”. Among the Greeks, “nostimo” (νόστιμο), although it has the same meaning “nice”.

However, there was not always enough food. Sometimes it was necessary to eat anything spoiled or fermented fruit or carrion. How does the body react to harmful food? It rejects it. And what is the sound produced while vomiting? The sound is complex: both growling and plaintive. Over time, the sound formed is one of the oldest protoroot “mr” with meaning “mertvyy” (dead).

There are a huge number of words with this root in the world. In Russian, this word is “smert’” (death) with all its derivatives: “smrad” (stench), “merzost’” (abomination) and others. This is the word “moroz” (frost) that kills all living things. This is the “more” (sea), the famous “mertvaya voda” (dead water), which is not suitable for drinking, but has nevertheless healing properties, and has retained its name in Russian folk tales about “living” water and “dead” water. This is the Greek God of dreams “Morpheus” and even the science “morfologiya” (morphology). Surprisingly, the word “mir” (peace) is also formed by this protoroot. But the interpretation of this word is a little creepy: mir is when everyone is killed, all are dead, there is no one to fight and the war ends.

The sounds of the food include protoroots “gr”, “kr”, “hr”. Their meaning goes back to the concept of “krepkiy” (strong)—this is the sound of “krosheniya” (crumbling), “khrusta” (crunching). It appeared when a person had to chew bones, or sand and stones enter into his mouth with food. And the sand khrustel (crunched), and the teeth “kroshilis’” (crumbled)! Next to them growling sounds of aggression appear. Growling, as a rule, was accompanied by a demonstration of teeth, and the sound warned that the enemy will stratch. Hence the whole galaxy of “rvanyh” (torn) words: “rychat’” (to growl), “ristat’” (to fight), “rvat’” (to tear), “rubit’” (to hack), “rezat’” (to cut), “rana” (wound).

Another palette of protoroots formed the sounds of drinking. In ancient times, there were no glasses and mugs, so our ancestors drank either from reservoirs, or, to get running water into the palm of their hand, they drew it in, as sometimes children or tourists do. What kind of sound is produced by such a drink? Only the sound of “ms”. “M” is the sound of food, but in this case it is liquid food, the consumption of which is accompanied by a “whistling” sound – the sound “s”. It formed protoroot with the meaning “drinking water”. It can be found everywhere in the names of localities, where water is suitable for drinking. There are a lot of such toponyms\place names on the planet – I found more than three hundred of them on the map, although I assume that there are many more. This is our Moskva reka (Moscow river), the Mississippi, the “Temza” (the Thames), and lake Michigan. This root has been preserved in various languages – for example, in Japanese, where there is still the word “mizi” with the meaning “water” and there is the word “mizimi” with the meaning “lake”.

Like all protoroots, “the sounds of drinking” too, lived their own lives, grew up and changed. So, in a number of languages, the sound of closed lips, the sound of eating “m” disappeared, and only the whistling “s” remained. For example, in the Turkic languages “su” means water. The English word “sea” is similar. And somewhere the whistling “s” evolved into hissing sounds.

The sounds of drinking can also include the sound of slurp in thick, hot and delicious food. Imagine that you have made soup, but instead of eating it with a spoon, you try to drink it directly from the pot. What kind of sound is produced? It is mixed sound “khl’”. Many words were formed from this sound: “khl`ebat’” (to slurp), “khl`upat’” (to slurp), “khl`eb” (bread), “khal`va” (halva), “kha`lyava” (freebie), and even “khl`yabi nebesnye” (“heavenly bread or slush”), which are heard in the name of the city where I have lived all my life and which I love— Chelyabinsk…