Re: Lepanto

Franz Gnaedinger wrote:
Dusan Vukotic wrote:

It seems this discussion might be very fruitful. Let us see: Lat.
'lepas' (mussel); 'lepidus' (charming, witty, pleasant, elegant; Serb.
'lep-o' beautiful), Eng. 'love', Ger. 'Liebe", Serb. 'ljubav', Eng.
lip/s, Ger. Lippe; Gr. λεπίδωση lamination; Serb. 'lepenka'
(stiff cardboard made by pasting together layers of paper), Serb.
'lepiti' (to glue), Serb. 'lipljan' (a kind of river fish; cf. Franz's
'lepa');

First I must say that my tentative explanation of Lepanto
via lepa was completely wrong. Naupaktos was a dockyard
long before Venice became a sea power. The derivation is
then Naupaktos Efpaktos Epantos L'Epanto Lepanto (or so).
Linguistically, the fish called lepa in the Medieval Latin of
Venice and the town of Lepanto in the Corinthian Gulf have
nothing in common.

However, there might be a link between lepa and Lepenski
Vir and other such names. The fish lepa has prominent lips,
also present in the zoological name Crenilabrus pavo. Lepa
may be a variant of Latin labra (?) German Lippe English lip.
Lepenski Vir lies in a deep gorge of the river Danube. The
Neolithic settlement of Lepenski Vir contained 45 fish idols,
15 of them show human faces with prominent lips. Most of
the human idols are female with a big vulva. Some boulders
have the shape of an egg. One forms an egg with a vulva.
Marija Gimbutas believes in a mythological aspect of these
idols. I follow her, and I got a vague idea of what they could
have meant - but my notion is far from conclusive, so I keep
it back for the time being.

My Magdalenian studies led me to a word I give as -: I -:
Pronounce the letter -: by touching the lips with your tongue.
The hypothetical word -: I -: has many derivatives, as the letter
-: became L, B, or D. For example ancient Greek lilazo for I
desire, German Liebe for love, Punic Dido for loved. Also the
word lip may have come from -: I -: Furthermore Latin bibere
for to drink. And so on. You may look up my message on that
hypothetical word in my etymological thread. The Serb words
you mention above fit well into the same scheme, even lepenka,
if you can see layers of paper glued together as sort of closed
lips, and if you glue together two pages of a book it can't "speak"
anymore ... Well, at least some of the Serb words you mention
fit. You are welcome to further think along this line, only that you
have to let go Lepanto. It has a completely different origin.

Regards Franz Gnaedinger

PS. I corrected "c.f. Franz's 'lipa'" into 'lepa' - the Medieval
Venetian Latin word for the fish Crenilabrus pavo was lepa.


Thank you, Franz, for your comprehensive answer.

The first condition one has to fulfill in order to understand the
development of human speech is an ability to understand the internal
logic of language. Therefore, semantic and logic are the primary
"tools" for discovering the history of the word. Phonetic changes can
be used only as an auxiliary method for analyzing those findings
achieved by the deep philosophical penetration into the core (center,
source, wellspring) of the word flowing. The sun is the center of our
world and the core or the self-generating wellspring of human speech.
Symbolically, of cours. The sun triggered human mind to think about the
world in general (god, nature), about other human and about himself
alone. However, I think, we have a plenty of time ahead to explain it
all, even the most tiniest details.

Etymology is a very slippery terrain and the final conclusions could be
made only there where all possible doubts had been removed or cleared
out.

Would anyone believe me if I said that the following words are closely
related and that they had been derived from the same source: Sargon,
sunce (sun), sun, sol, sredina (center), srce (heart), srčan (brave),
red (order), regno, Rhein, rex/regis, ρήγας (king), rika (roar),
reč (word), order, sreća (happiness), sručiti (fall down, topple),
sretanje (meeting), rod (family), rađanje (birthing), reka (river)
etc.? Of course, I know, one can hardly say anything except to wave his
hand nervously and reward above question with a negative (sometimes
even scornful) response; despite the fact I have been telling the
truth.

Another example: are there any close relations among Serb. 'kućanstvo
/ kućenje' (haushold), Gr. οικογένεια (household, family),
οίκος (house), Eng. hut, Ger. Hütte, Serb. kut (corner)?

Obviously, you have a quick-piercing mind when you spotted that
'lepenka' was glued as if lips were closed together. In fact, the
Serbian 'lepljenje' (gluing) is nothing else but 'ljubljenje' (kissing)
and the both of these words were in a close relation to other Serbian
words like 'obala' (coast), 'obljuba' (intercourse), 'plivanje'
(swimming), 'oblivanje' (suffusing), 'poljubac' (kiss) - geminated BEL
syllable.

Best regards,

Dusan Vukotic

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