Re: what is etymology? (linguistics and biology)

Deep etymology of English "language"

Lang lang lang lang lang ... Pronounce that syllable five
or ten or twenty times without giving voice, let your tongue
do as it pleases, and sooner or later it will pronounce that
syllable in an expressive way: the tongue will curve inward,
the tip will touch the back of the palate, stroke all along
the palate, and then smack on its wet bed, thus producing
a clicking sound ... Past summer, on a walk in the woods,
I trained my tongue for half an hour, and finally I was able
to produce a fairly loud click. The Xan of South Africa still
have a variety of clicks in their language. I could imagine
that in early times, say, 75,000 years ago, hunters stalking
game used such clicks for to communicate with each other
- clicks that sounded somewhat natural, contrary to spoken
words that would have made the shy game run for their life.

Why do the English and Americans use the French "langue"
in language and not the English tongue? Tonguage does not
sound as good; pronouncing tonguage is not half as pleasing,
what with the tip of the tongue sticking to the frontal part of
the palate above the gums of the upper teeth.

A year ago I mused whether the clicking L may have been
the root of ancient Greek logos, of Greek leon, Latin leo,
Italian leone, English lion, German Loewe, also of ancient
Greek lykos, Latin lupus for wolf. There are sculptures of
a lion and a wolf on the Goebekli Tepe, and reliefs of lions
on the pillars of the rectangular Lion Building. And there is
the famous lion man from the Vogelherd cave in Germany,
some 35,500 years old, showing a man with the head of
a lion --- lion man, leader, lord, the one who has the say,
and the one who does the reasoning and decides.

LOG with a clicking L might have been the title of a lion
man. It would have become ancient Greek logos with the
double meaning of a) speech, talk, word, and b) reason.
Pronounce log log log log log ... lang lang lang lang lang ...
without giving voice: there is not much of a difference.
French langue and English language may then go back
to hypothetical log. The double meaning of saying and
reasoning would have been split into a pair of words,
namely a) language, and b) logic. My Webster provides
14 definitions or meanings or explanations of language.
None of them includes the meaning of reason, reasoning.
But you can find it in Juergen Habermas who says that
language as communication, used for exchanging feelings,
views and opinions, contains an immanent reason of its own.

Let us see whether this immanent reason of language can
unfold in our discussions in sci.lang ...

Next time: ABC genes

Regards Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch



Ovals B C D of Goebekli Tepe as lunisolar calendars
part 3, ovals C and D, Nevali Cori, double purpose

The inner oval of temple C is larger than the oval B,
the ring counted 12 or perhaps 13 pillars, and there
is again a pair of inner pillars (four or five of the ring
pillars are lost, have been destroyed by farmers).
Oval D is larger than the inner oval C, ring 12 or
perhaps 13 pillars, a pair of inner pillars (complete,
but only partly excavated).

A ring of 12 pillars, plus a pair of inner pillars: count
a ring pillar for 30 days, 12 times 30 yield 360 days,
add 5 or 6 days for the space between the inner
pillars and you obtain a solar year of 365 or 366 days.
5 rings plus 3 ring pillars yield 63 ring pillars or 1890
days that correspond to 64 lunations. The same idea
and numbers hold for a rectangular building at nearby
Nevali Cori.

A ring of 13 pillars, plus a pair of inner pillars: count
a ring pillar for 28 days, 13 times 28 yield 364 days,
and add 1 or 2 days for the space between the inner
pillars, thus you obtain a solar year of 365 / 366 days.
10 rings plus 5 ring pillars yield 135 ring pillars or
3780 days that correspond to 128 lunations.

A lunisolar calendar is justified by the lower hieroglyph
on the southern narrow flank of an inner pillar of oval D,
showing a lunar sickle embracing a solar disk with
a hollow from below. The upper hieroglyph shows
a pair of vertical bars and a hollow in between, the
ensemble resembling our letter H. The hieroglyph on
the narrow southern flank of the other inner pillar of
oval D shows a bucranium with a hollow.

Klaus Schmidt is reminded of the Iranian "towers of
silence" Dakhmahs, walled mortuary precincts where
the corpses were exposed to birds, wind and weather;
the bodies were quickly decomposed, then the bones
were gathered and placed into stone chist tombs.
My reading of the hieroglyphs goes along with that
interpretation. The body of a dead leader may have
been placed between the inner pillars (H), whereupon
his soul was reborn (bucranium, symbol of the female
reproductive organs) and ascended to the sky (sun).

The tops of the pillars of oval D are covered with cup
marks. I found an explanation for this in the Genesis.
Isaac may have been a Birdman GHI SH'AC, supreme
ruler of Upper Mesopotamia, of the "Flanky Hills" or
the Fertile Crescent in general, residing at Haran / Harran
just south of Goebekli Tepe, where the old ways may
have lasted for a long time. His son Jacob left Bersheba
for Har(r)an, spent a night at a certain place, dreamed,
saw the Lord on top of a heavenly ladder from where
he spoke to him and appointed him ruler of that very
place. In the morning Jacob wakes up, finds the place
dreadful, but certainly the Lord must be here, so he
gives it a name, Beth-el (Beitin), erects the stone he
had used for a pillow for a pillar (_for_ a pillar, says my
Bible, adding emphasis), and pours oil over it. He did
not become a supreme ruler GHI SH'AC as his cultural
father Isaac, but a pronvincial ruler SH'AC Ja'aqob Jacob,
a sagan (governor of the province of Judaea). He humbly
accepts his minor role and pours oil over his pathetic
pillar. This indicates the purpose of the cup marks
on top of the pillars of oval D of Goebekli Tepe: a ruler,
freshly appointed GHI SH'AC, supreme leader of Upper
Mesopotamia, may have poured oil over the pillars.
Also this interpretation goes along with the hieroglyphs:
standing between the inner pillars (H), connected to the
power and order of the heavens (solar disk embraced from
below by a lunar sickle), and provided with general fertility
and wealth (bucranium).

The ovals of Goebekli would then have served a double
purpose: establishing a supreme leader, and transferring
his soul to his heavenly abode after his death. The double
role is very well visualized by a large stone head for the
supreme ruler on earth, and a large limestone ring with
a hollow head (negative head inside the ring) that shapes
the sky into the form of a human face, testifying to the
heavenly life of the ruler: look across that ring and you
can see him in the sky ...

Next time: deep etymology of English "language"

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: what is etymology? (linguistics and biology)
    ... Four stone pillar temples ... of a temple without pillars. ... In my opinion, hieroglyph 2, the lying H, represents ... Learn about language, not just about linguistics. ...
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  • Re: More Etymology!
    ... Talking about Göbekli Tepe is senseless ... pillars with their phantastic reliefs and sculptures ... language, so I infer that in your mind the lying H is a written sign ... it in a child, wich procedes from images to more abstract symbols. ...
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