Historical-Comparative Linguistics Linguistique Historico-Comparative
HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS LINGUISTIQUE HISTORICO-COMPARATIVE SOME NOSTRATIC ETYMOLOGIES: SUPPLEMENT I 1. Introduction In my recently-published joint monograph with John C. KERNS entitled The Nostratic Macrofamily: A Study in Distant Linguistic Relationship (BOMHARD - KERNS 1994), I listed and discussed 601 possible Nostratic etymologies. Since writing this book, my research has continued, and, as a result, I have changed my mind about a small number of the etymologies listed in the book, and I have accumulated material for new etymologies. In this paper, I would like to present a number of additional Nostratic etymologies. First, however, I will begin by giving a brief introduction to the basic assumptions made in my book. 2. The Nostratic Languages One large-scale grouping of languages that has been proposed at var- ious times and by various scholars is the so-called “Nostratic” macro- family — the name “Nostratic” was first suggested by Holger PEDERSEN in 1903 (it is derived from Latin nostras “our countryman”). Though the “Nostratic Hypothesis” has occupied the efforts of a handful of scholars from time to time, for the most part, it has been ignored by most schol- ars — the early work done was simply not of high quality and, therefore, was not convincing. However, beginning in the early 1960’s, interest in the Nostratic Hypothesis was revived by the work of two Russian schol- ars, namely, V.M. ILLICH-SVITYCH and A.B. DOLGOPOLSKY, who first started working independently and, at a later date, through the efforts of Vladimir DYBO, cooperatively. Their work, though not without its own shortcomings (see below, § 4), was the first successful demonstration that certain language phyla of northern and central Eurasia, as well as the ancient Near East, might be genetically related.
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