Robert C. Melzi 295

GIOVANNI SEMERANO LE ORIGINI DELLA CULTURA EUROPEA: DIZIONARI ETIMOLOGICI 2 Voll. I/ Dizionario della lingua greca; II/ Dizionario della lingua latina e di voci moderne Firenze: Olschki, 1994. 715 pp.

In these two books, comprising Volume 43 of the "Biblioteca dell'Archivimi Romanicum," the author fulfills the promise made in 1984, when, in Volume 38 of the same series, Le origini della cultura europea. Rivelazioni della linguistica storica, he had laid down the theoretical bases for his research. Semerano's strategy includes two steps; the primary goal is etymological and is explained by the subtitle of the volumes under review, "Basi semitiche delle lingue indeuropee"; the author intends to give back to the the recognition of being the mother of our civilization (xviii). This task is being accomplished by forsaking "l'insolente verbosità formalizzatrice che nella così detta nuova linguistica spesso aduggia il senso comune" (xviii), and attacking structuralism which "non premia la parola, matrice dinamica, colta storicamente nella sua dimensione evolutiva," and "ignora la sua ricchezza inesausta," being guilty of having forgotten the historical tools, in favour of a twisted theory that is oblivious to the past (xx, xxi). Semerano's secondary step is sociolinguistic, inasmuch as he attempts to describe the evolution of the world's political centers and its influence on language history. We should not take sides in the author's impassioned diatribe against Lévi-Strauss and Jacobson, but simply note that Semerano has succeeded, at least in part, in proving his point, that the Middle East is "l'orizzonte delle origini indeuropee" as illuminated by the "sole del Vicino Oriente" (xxiii). Semerano goes back 3,000 years to the civilization of Sargon, the founder of the Akkadian dynasty and to the Robert C. Melzi 296

Akkadian language "la più antica e ricca di documentazione" (xxix), via its two important dialects, Assyrian and Babylonian (xxvii). He is extremely proud of having been able to unravel that had heretofore eluded the most astute researchers. Kai (how), for instance, is etymologically derived from "Arcadico di Mantinea," ka (as, like; at, after), Arabic kai, Akkadian ki, et (denoting company, togetherness); it is traced to Hebrew et, and Akkadian itti (with) (xxx). For another example, I should like to offer German Sippe (people, family), which, according to Semerano, is derived from Akkadian sabu, old Babylonian sabum, with the meaning of "people." The is attested to by Latin prosapia (family origin). In the past, Italian razza and French race had been generally derived by modern etymologists from Old French haraz (breeding of horses). Semerano seeks its etymology in "Neoassiro" Harsa (breeder of horses) which in turn finds reference to an older voice, hharsitu in old Akkadian, a breed of sheep (xxxv). Hundreds of Indic words are explained by their Semitic etymologies, the most startling revelation coming in the close identity of "our old gods," whereby Iuv(peter) and Yahveh are commonly derived (liii). In addition to the "Introduction" (xiii-lxxvi), there is a "Bibliographical note" (lxxvii-xciii) that explains the principles under which the dictionary has been prepared, and a list of the dictionaries consulted during the preparation. Abbreviations are listed in pp. xcv-vi, and phonetic evolutions explained in pp. xcvii-ic; Greek etymologies cover pp. 3 to 327; Latin etymologies go from p. 331 to p. 620. In spite of the usefulness of the Greek and Latin dictionaries and their importance in the history of modern languages, the most interesting part, for the English-speaking user, is the Dizionario etimologico di voci moderne (621-713), in which hundreds of etymologies of English words are found. This is not the first attempt made to go back to the Semitic sources of English; Klein had, in the past, followed this path by including Semitic origins of English words; and, already in the fifties, he had lamented that the effectiveness of many etymological dictionaries was impaired by the fact that their authors were generally not familiar with the structure of . He had offered his book as "a preliminary work for the etymological dictionary of the Semitic languages themselves" (ix). Klein's dictionary contained, however, only 750 entries of Semitic origin, such a small number that it was hardly noticed. One of its most recent successors, Barnhart's Dictionary of Robert C. Melzi 297

Etymology was exclusively concerned with the Indo-European sources of English, as one may see by comparing a few of its entries with the same entries, as treated by Semerano. Selecting at random, we find tongue that Barnhart derives from tong; developed from Old English tunge organ of speech, speech, language. Barnhart pursues this word as being cognate with Old Frisian tunge tongue, Old Saxon tunga, Middle Dutch tonghe (modern Dutch tong), Old German zunga (modern German Zunge), Old Icelandic tunga (Swedish tunga, Norwegian and Danish tunge), Gothic tungo- (from Proto Germanic *tunzo). Barnhart further suggests that cognates are found in Old Latin *dingua tongue, Latin lingua (altered by influence of lingere to lick), and Old Irish teng. Going beyond Barnhart's Euro­ centric listings, Semerano goes much earlier into time and, after having suggested all known Indo-European sources (Anglo-Saxon, Old Frisian, Old German, Gothic, Latin), suggests that English tongue "è sotto l'influenza semantica di base corrispondente ed accad. ziqqu, zaqiku (soffio, alito, 'Wehen, Hausch,' 'Mundhauch') incrociatosi semanticamente con accad. zaqaro, zakuru, sem. dkr, aram dkr (parlare, 'aussprechen, reden'), zikru (espressione, 'Ausspruch, Aussage'). Ma *dingua > 'lingua' è certo calcato su 'lingo' lecco accad. lêku [...] " (699). As another example, I should like to offer child which Barnhart finds cognate of Old Swedish kulder, dolder (litter), Danish kuld (offspring), Gothic kilthei (womb), and Sancrit jathara. Semerano, on the other hand, after citing the Indo-European cognates, offers Akkadian qallu, qa-lu (piccolo, "klein," "gerig"). One may find some of Semerano's etymological propositions somewhat far-fetched, but they are always fascinating, and generally supported by solid scholarship. At times the author wavers, on the one hand, between his conviction of the pivotal importance of , and especially of (xv), in the cultural progress of the modern world and, on the other, his recognition that the center of the world has shifted from the Mediterranean to the Pacific (vi). His impassioned cry for a salvation of Europe in spite of the impotence of its politicians cannot help but evoke the memories of the struggles now going on in Bosnia and, even more significantly, in the Middle East. How can we forget that Aramic was the official language of the Persian Empire, up to and including the seventh satrapy, extending its influence all the way down to India? If one looks at the suggested common derivation of the words Robert C. Melzi 298

Jupiter and Yahveh, modern "wars of religion" like the one going on now in Bosnia simply do not make sense. One may find fault with many of the propositions advanced by Semerano, and even disagree with him on his political premises, but one cannot deny that these two books will profoundly influence all future etymological dictionaries. The volumes are of great interest to the specialist in linguistics, because many of the etymologies are new and far-reaching. For the scholar of cultural history, the books open up new vistas on the connection between political centers and language history.

ROBERT C. MELZI Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania

BOOKS CITED

Barnhart, Robert K. (ed.). The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology. New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1988. Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam-London: Elsevier Publishing Co., 1967. Pokorny, J. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern-München: Francke, 1959.