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After peeking in at the palindrome thread it occurred to me that some languages don't have alphabets that can form visual palindromes such as "kayak" or "toot." But that's beside the point! I picked up a 1960s Russian grammar book to see if I could find any possible palindromes therein, then realized that the word for "words" is слова, or "slava." Now I'm wondering whether Slavs, in English, is derived from the Russian word, thereby suggesting that they are "people of the word," i.e. people of a common language?

It's fun digging through these old Soviet-era textbooks! Dingy grey covers, newsprint pages - reflecting a not so glossy society back then.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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Originally posted by Geoff:
Now I'm wondering whether Slavs, in English, is derived from the Russian word, thereby suggesting that they are "people of the word," i.e. people of a common language?


It's possible. Slav is definitely related to slave.
 
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Russian слова (slova) 'word' is different from слава (slava) 'glory'. The later is, I believe, the origin of the ethnonym; the root also occurs in many personal names, too, e.g., Vyacheslav, Miroslav. I look into the etymologies later when I visit my reference library.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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kayak/qajaq is a palindrome in the Latin alphabet, but not in Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics: ᖃᔭᖅ
 
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Originally posted by zmježd:
слава (slava) 'glory'.
I once worked with a Czech whose name was something-slav, but his nickname was Slava I know nothing of Czech, but if it's the same, he must have felt glorious!


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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Originally posted by zmježd:
Russian слова (slova) 'word' is different from слава (slava) 'glory'.


But they are related, they're both derived from PIE *ḱleu- "to hear", also found in Sophokles "famed for wisdom" and Ludwig "famed in battle".

I wrote a confused post about this a while ago.
 
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After reading the bit about Bulgarian, buggar, and bourge, I had to laugh. Isn't "bourge" the name of the French stock market? And I'll never eat Bulgar wheat again!


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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Just looked it up. It's "bourse," not "bourge." No doubt from Latin "bursa." Still might all tie in, given the buggaring the stock exchange people have given us.


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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No doubt from Latin "bursa."

Whence English purse.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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they're both derived from PIE *ḱleu- "to hear"

Which means they're related to the whole PIE "imperishable fame" formula: Greek κλεος αφθιτον (kleos aphthiton), older κλεϝος (klewos), and Sanskrit śravas akṣitam.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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Let's see if I've got all this right: We've got "bursa" that's a famous bag, a "fiscus" that's a money bag, and a "scrotum" that's a family jewel bag. I guess if you were rich, famous, and fertile you could have all three?


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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This is a very interesting thread. Of course, when I think of bursa, I think of the bursa sacs in joints that contain a lubricating fluid that facilitates motion.
 
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