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