Redalyc.Origin and Diversity of the Words for Ancient Eurasian Grain
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Onomázein ISSN: 0717-1285 [email protected] Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile Miki, Aleksandar Origin and diversity of the words for ancient Eurasian grain legumes in Slavic languages Onomázein, núm. 28, diciembre, 2013, pp. 280-287 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Santiago, Chile Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=134530174015 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Revista semestral de lingüística, filología y traducción Origin and diversity of the words for ancient Eurasian grain legumes in Slavic languages Aleksandar Mikic´ Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops / University of Novi Sad Serbia ONOMÁZEIN 28 (diciembre de 2013): 280-287 DOI: 10.7764/onomazein.28.23 Aleksandar Mikic´: Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops / Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad. Serbia. 28 Correo electrónico: [email protected]; [email protected] Diciembre 2013 Fecha de recepción: septiembre de 2012 Fecha de aceptación: noviembre de 2013 ONOMÁZEIN 28 (diciembre de 2013): 280 - 287 Aleksandar Mikic´ Origin and diversity of the words for ancient Eurasian grain legumes in Slavic languages 281 Abstract This short research note aims at demonstra- has been witnessed by rather rich lexicological ting the importance of the role that grain legu- evidence and supported by attested etymologi- mes, such as pea (Pisum sativum L.), lentil (Lens cal connections. This note also links Slavic roots culinaris Medik.) or field bean (Vicia faba L.), have to the other members of Indo-European langua- been playing in the everyday lives of both mo- ge families and presents their common Proto- dern Slavic nations and their ancestors. This role Indo-European origins. Keywords: etymology; field bean; lentil; lexicology; pea; Slavic languages. ONOMÁZEIN 28 (diciembre de 2013): 280 - 287 Aleksandar Mikic´ Origin and diversity of the words for ancient Eurasian grain legumes in Slavic languages 282 1. Introduction tions during the fifth millennium BC (Anthony, The term grain legumes comprises all legu- 2007). The Balto-Slavic branch got separated me (fam. Fabaceae syn. Leguminosae) species from other Indo-European languages probably that are grown for and are used in the form of from 3,000 to 1,000 BC (Andersen, 2003), while bet- either immature or mature grains for both hu- ween 1,500 and 1,000 BC these two groups were man consumption and in animal feeding, as well finally differentiated from each other. The Slavs as for various non-food purposes such as green in their original homeland in East Europe were manure (C´upina et al., 2004). Crops such as pea scarcely known to Greeks or Romans, but their (Pisum sativum L.), lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.), remarkable expansion in early fourth century AD field bean (Vicia faba L.), vetchlings (Lathyrus made them more discernible to the Western civi- spp.) and vetches (Vicia spp.) are considered the lisation. It is assumed that there was a language most significant on a world scale (Smýkal et al., spoken by all Slavic tribes before their migration, 2010). All these species originated in Near Eas- directly derived from the Proto-Indo-European, tern, Mediterranean and Central Asian centres and it is commonly referred to as Proto-Slavic. It of diversity (Zeven & Zhukovsky, 1975) and are is true that modern Slavic languages are rather also among the first domesticated plant species differentiated, but their common underlying in the world (Zohary & Hopf, 2000). The earliest stratum is highly recognisable and the differen- archaeological findings of these crops are about ces are still relatively small (Lockwood, 1977). 10,000 years old and are located mainly in Syria Like in other branches of the Indo-European (Tanno & Willcox, 2006). From there, they spread language family, there is an extensive vocabu- in all directions, especially towards Europe, whe- lary of the words common to all Slavic langua- re they and cereals carried out the “agricultural ges, retaining nearly the same forms despite a revolution” of post-glacial Europe. In a rather millennium-and-a-half long geographic separa- short period, during the sixth millennium BC, tion. Among these, especially notable are those grain legumes reached almost every corner of related to animals and plants, particularly fruits, the continent, such as northern France (Bakels, cereals and legumes (Mikic´-Vragolic´ et al., 2007). 1999) and Armenia (Hovsepyan & Willcox, 2007). Since the significant geographic proximity of The Balkan Peninsula and Central Europe are both Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Slavic ho- especially rich in archaeobotanical evidence on melands with the routes of the domestication of the grain legume cultivation in Neolithic, as wit- the most ancient grain legumes, it may be assu- nessed by sites such as Stare Gmajne in Slovenia med that the ancestors of the modern Slavic peo- (Tolar et al., 2010), Kutné Hory in Czech Republic ples knew rather well pea, lentil or field bean and (Smýkal & Mikic´, 2009) and southern Serbia (Me- that they both cultivated and used them before dovic´ et al., 2011). their great migrations. By this reason, the main The Slavic languages have the greatest num- goal of this preliminary research was to examine ber of speakers of all the branches of the Indo- the origin and the diversity of the words deno- European language family in Europe. Like its ting pea, lentil and field bean and in the majority relatives, such as Baltic, Celtic, Hellenic, Italic or of the modern Slavic languages. Germanic branches, the ultimate origin of the Slavic nations and their languages are Proto- 2. Words for pea in Slavic languages Indo-Europeans, the people who spoke suppo- The words denoting pea in modern Slavic sed Proto-Indo-European language and became languages demonstrate a remarkable morpho- distinct in the vast Pontic-Caspian steppe, from logical uniformity (table 1). Only a slight modi- which they started to migrate in many direc- fication occurs in some languages. In some of ONOMÁZEIN 28 (diciembre de 2013): 280 - 287 Aleksandar Mikic´ Origin and diversity of the words for ancient Eurasian grain legumes in Slavic languages 283 the languages of the southern branch, such as the Slavic languages is the Proto-Slavic root Croatian, Macedonian, and Serbian, the words *gorhu˘, also denoting pea (Vasmer, 1953). This have a diminutive form by adding the suffix ak- . root, in its turn, might be derived from the Pro- A hypothetical change could have happened du- to-Indo-European *ghArs-, ghers-2, denoting ring the introduction of common bean (Phaseo- a leguminous plant in general (Pokorny, 1959; lus vulgaris L.), since in Croatian and western dia- Nikolaev, 2007), but this reconstruction mostly lects of Serbian it is called grah: due to the larger remains hypothetical and, in contrast, could size of its seeds, it could adopt this name, while be explained as a borrowing from one of the pea, in fact, began to be referred to as small grah, neighbouring peoples (Mallory & Adams, 2006). that is, grašak. In the languages of the eastern Precious evidence that essentially contributed branch, such as Rusyn, it is -ok. It is interesting to the assessment of the Proto-Slavic root is the that in Russian goroshok denotes vetches (Vicia word denoting pea in Polabian, an extinct Slavic spp.). Both suffixes -ak and -ok reflect the Proto- language, gorch. From Slavic, its word denoting Slavic *-ı˘ku˘. pea was borrowed by some neighbouring lan- guages, such as Albanian, in the form of gróshë The origin of the words denoting pea in all FIGURE 1 A geographical presentation of the development of the words denoting pea, lentil and field bean in Slavic from their Proto-Indo-European roots and in some other branches of the Indo-European language family1 1 The dates on the map indicate either the time when the direct descendants of the Proto-Indo-European language are supposed to be developed or the time when their first records were attested. ONOMÁZEIN 28 (diciembre de 2013): 280 - 287 Aleksandar Mikic´ Origin and diversity of the words for ancient Eurasian grain legumes in Slavic languages 284 and meaning common bean, and Aromanian, as adopted by Hungarian as lencse (Skok, 1972) and, grãshac and with the preserved original Slavic most likely, returned to Slavic languages in the meaning (Mikic´, 2009). form of the Rusyn lencˇ a, since the preservation of the nasality is impossible in an inherited East The hypothetical Proto-Indo-European root Slavic item. *ghArs- was not preserved in the proto-langua- ges of the other Indo-European languages (fi- This Proto-Indo-European root also gave the gure 1). In fact, its traces may be found only in words denoting lentil in other derivatives of it, the Baltic languages, such as Lithuanian, with such as the Proto-Baltic *leñš-ia-, Proto-Germa- gar˜šas and garšvà for the species Archangelica nic *lins-ı¯(n-) or Latin le¯ns (figure 1), all of which officinalis, and in Germanic languages, such as produced words denoting the same in their mo- High German, with Giersch for the species Aego- dern descendants, such as Modern Lithuanian podium podagraria (Vasmer, 1953). le˛šis, Modern German Linse or Modern Italian lenticchia. To the same group belongs the Rus- TABLE 1 sian local lyacha (Vasmer, 1955). Words denoting pea in modern Slavic languages There are opinions that the words denoting Language Word lentil in another group of Slavic languages, such Belarusian garoh as the Czech cˇ ocˇ ka and the Serbian socˇ ivo, were Bulgarian grah derived from the Proto-Slavic *socˇ evica (Vasmer, Croatian grašak 1958).