Re: what is etymology? (linguistics and biology)

Glossary of the new Magdalenian words, part 1, introduction

Let me begin with my definition of language from 1974/75:

Language is the means of getting help, support and
understanding from those we depend upon in one way
or another --- and every means of getting help, support
and understanding may be called language, on whatever
level of life it occurs.

Language, then, is a basic feature of life, and so I assume
that langue evolves the same way as the life forms do.
Human evolution occurs mainly outside the body, in
culture, and so the language we use goes beyond body
language, yet the mechanisms of evolution in human
language are the same. I follow the evolutionary model
proposed by Nils Eldrege and Stephen Jay Gould on the
basis of earlier authors: a new species arises in a relatively
short period of time (punctuation of the equilibrium) and
can then persist basically unchanged for eons (stasis).

Homo erectus may have communicated via humming.
Neanderthals had high melodic voices. The language of
Homo sapiens sapiens of the Middle Stone Age, Blombos
cave, South Africa, 75 000 BP, may have consisted of
words of one or two letters, for example

KA --- sky, beyond, what is out of our reach, also inside
rock, a well, deep inside ourselves, accessible to a shaman
in a trance

KU --- woman, life-giver

A or AA or A-A --- water, thirst, to drink

(AN --- hunger // ED --- eat)

I may ponder the possibilities of a language that makes use
of one- or two-letter words in the spring of 2007. Last year,
in the spring of 2005, I pondered the possibilities of mainly
three-letter words, first in a playful and intuitive way, then
on the basis of two laws that soon emerged: inverse forms
have related meanings, and further permutations yield words
around the same meme. This year, in late winter and early
spring (my linguistic season), I went for more words and
found two more laws: D-forms are comparated in S-forms,
and important words can have lateral associations. All four
laws together:

1) inverse forms have related meanings
2) permutations yield words around the same meme
3) D-forms are comparated in S-forms
4) important words can have lateral associations

Using these four laws I systematically mined words and
found, all in all, some 500 new words. Together with the
some 400 or 500 words from last year we have now some
thousand Magdalenian words, enough to be used as a
working language, although many words are still missing.

Some of my words must have been in use in the time of
the Chauvet cave, 32 000 - 30 000 BP, for example

PAD --- activity of feet, to go, pad along, pad pad pad
pad ... (onomatopoetic)

comparative PAS --- everywhere (in a plain)

CA --- sky

Poster Holly identified the oldest writing known so far
in the Brunel chamber of the Chauvet cave, a domino
five, with my hypothetical PAS for everywhere. The
additional dot next to the upper right dot may be read
as CA for sky:

O O O
O
O O

PAS CA --- may the bison-man (represented on the
stalactite in the center of the rear hall of the Chauvet
cave), supreme ruler of the Lower Rhone valley, be born
again (by the Venus on the same stalactite) among the
stars of the Summer Triangle (indicated by her vulva),
and roam the sky as he now roams the earth ...

Once a word was established, the inverse form was
given a related meaning, then further permutations
were given words around the same meme, and when
a group of six permutations was filled up, one resorted
to lateral associations when needing more words

My method allows to ponder groups of words instead of
single words, and thus to retrieve much more information:
inverses of 2 words, permutation groups of 4 and often 6
words, permutation groups of 6 D-forms and 6 comparated
S-forms, yielding 12 words around the same meme, and
the largest group I found, including lateral associations,
counts 72 words, around the key-words

DAI --- a camp, represented by recangular forms

SAI --- life, existence, represented by lines and fields
of dots

The fully developed stage of that language would have been
reached in around 15 000 BP, an epoch called Magdalenian,
and so I call my hypothetical language Magdalenian, because
I like the word. Its core area would have been the Guyenne,
or the Franco-Cantabrian space.

In the following messages I shall present my new words
in a more systematic order than before, but still more or
less in the way I mined them.

The words from last year can be found in my thread "Lascaux,
a lunisolar calendar." That calendar was the reason why I went
for an experimental reconstruction of Magdalenian, and my
linguistic experiment led me to a late Magdalenian calendar,
as you already know, or shall see later on.

Regards Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch



While preparing a glossary of the new Magdalenian words,
part 24, a further group of six words, and some additions

The thread "Albanian inherited lexicon (...)" made me go for
the permutations of POT for ruler. Here is what I found:

POT --- ruler; ancient Greek potnia for a female ruler,
despotaes for ruler, despoina for a female ruler, lady of
the house, Despoina was a powerful goddess, her secret
name was Nyx, alter ego of Gaia, Latin potentia and
potestas for power (...), English potency and power

TOP --- place and rank, where a ruler lives, also his rank;
ancient Greek topos for place, rank, English top for a place
and position, top of a hill, top of the social pyramid

TPO --- appearance, composure and splendor of a ruler;
ancient Greek typos for appearance, form, shape (...)

OPT --- a ruler presenting himself, herself; ancient Greek
optasia for appearance, optanomai for to let oneself be
seen, Latin optimus for the best

PTO --- a ruler spreading influence; ancient Greek peitho
for I persuade (...), patis for step, path, petomai for to speed,
hurry, fly - consider the bird as emblem of a ruler, birdman
of Lascaux, the bird goddess of Old Europe and predynastic
Egypt, the Horus falcon of dynastic Egypt, the Eagle as
emblematic animal of the USA

OTP --- how a ruler paves the way; ancient Greek odopoieo
for I pave the way

POT and permutations may be lateral associations to PAD,
comparative PAS, and their permutations.

I gave PAC for horse, PEC for game, goat, ibex. PIC may
be the word for bird. inverse CIP for pole, phallus, consider
the phallus of the birdman in the Lascau cave, and the
bird on a pole, both in the pit of the cave.

Humming might have been the language of Homo erectus,
I postulated in an earlier message. As evidence I quoted
Latin homo for human, many Greek words, and English
me for I, French moi for je. I missed a fine version: OM
of the chanting Brahmans, a sound that makes your body
vibrate ...



While preparing a glossary of the new Magdalenian words,
part 23, How to cope with adversities and calamities

The etymology of Latin tristis has not yet been explained
in a convincing way, so I propose Magdalenian DRI as
root, from a group of six D-forms and six comparative
S-forms around the meme of how to cope with adversities
and calamities:

DIR --- to look out for signs of adversities and calamities,
to face them directly when they arise and occur, may go
along with fear, also to speak about them; Latin dirus for
announcing calamities, horrible, dirae for signs that
announce harm and calamity, directus for direct, perhaps
English fear, French dire (pronounced dir) for to speak

comparative SIR --- to warn of adversities and calamities,
sometimes in vain, as danger seems to attract some people,
or they prefer to ignore them, Kassandra and others warned
their folks in vain, the sirens, ancient Greek seiraen, Latin
Siren, lured many a sailor into doom, while our sirens warn
of an imminent danger

inverse RID --- to laugh, to laugh a danger away, to encourage
each other laughing, thus diminishing an adversity, also to
laugh when a danger is over; Latin ridere for to laugh

comparative RIS --- to mock and deride; Latin risus for laughter
and laughing stock

IRD --- to be angry, Latin iratus for to be angry

comparative IRS --- to be very angry; Latin irasco for I get angry

inverse DRI --- being helpless in the case of adversities and
calamities, becoming hard, harsh, sad and bitter; ancient Greek
drimus for cutting, sharp, stinging, astringent, harsh, bitter (...),
Latin tristis for sad, afflicted, hurting, harsh, unfriendly, gloomy,
angry, horrible, dangerous, earnest, cold, hard

comparative SRI --- wishing to get rid of adversities and
calamities, to eradicate their causes; Latin sario for to weed
(etymology unclear says my dictionary)

RDI --- to cope in a rational way with adversities and calamities;
Latin ratio for reason, rationalis for rational

comparative RSI --- to smooth and even out emotions in order
to cope rationally with a danger, adversaries, adversities and
calamities; Latin rasilis for smooth(ed)

inverse IDR --- to cope with adversities and calamities on
the basis of knowledge; ancient Greek idris for knowing,
experienced

comparative ISR --- to invoke divine knowledge and advice
in order to cope with adversities and calamities; *isaros for
strong, sacred


.

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