Word Journal Week 3 (Dissing)

 For my vocabulary week, I would like to focus a bit on the origins and paths of words that have come into English.  These are for the most part regular words that we've all heard of but to me they are interesting due to the scope of their history.  Our text touched upon this subject by discussing Proto-Indo-European and showed a map outlining the general paths that PIE took to branch into different European language families.  By studying Russian, Lithuanian, Icelandic, and Welsh (none of which I'm proficient in) I noticed similarities in certain lexical items across these languages and had a vague notion of an east to west movement though I had no historical knowledge of languages.  With Lithuanian, I discovered that it shares cognates with Sanskrit and many other words that are quite similar to their Sanskrit counterparts, a testament to the notion that it probably holds some of the most ancient linguistic features of a surviving European language and that it likely still holds many of the features of PIE.  So, I found a few words and their historical information (which works well if you look at the map in the book that discusses PIE).  If anyone has any other interesting words or etymology regarding PIE/Sanskrit/Lithuanian I would love to hear it as I myself have only just begun exploring this topic. 

                Not all these words have a clear connection to their Lithuanian/Sanskrit counterparts.  The last two terms especially are interesting when considering that although the words zen and meditation come from the same root word perhaps we now  use two different variations to refer to two different regional practices.  

    

dad (n.) 

recorded from c.1500, but probably much older, from child's speech, nearly universal and probably prehistoric (cf. Welsh tad, Irish daid, Czech, Latin, Greek tata, Lithuanian tete, Sanskrit tatah, all of the same meaning).

roar (v.) 

Old English rarian "roar, wail, lament, bellow, cry," probably of imitative origin (cf. Middle Dutch reeren, German röhren "to roar;" Sanskrit ragati "barks;" Lithuanian reju "to scold;" Old Church Slavonic revo "I roar;" Latin raucus "hoarse").

smack (v.2) 

"to slap with the hand," 1835, from noun in this sense (c.1746), perhaps influenced by Low German smacken "to strike, throw," which is likely of imitative origin (cf. Swedish smak "slap," Middle Low German smacken, Frisian smakke, Dutch smakken "to fling down," Lithuanian smagiu "to strike, knock down, whip").

gesundheit 

1914, from German Gesundheit, literally "health!" Also in toast auf ihre Gesundheit "to your health" (see sound (adj.)). Lithuanian aciu, echoic of the sound of a sneeze, has come to mean "good luck, God bless you." See also God.

wax (n.) ***shows general map according to the book

"substance made by bees," Old English weax, from Proto-Germanic *wakhsan (cf. Old Saxon, Old High German wahs, Old Norse vax, Dutch was, German Wachs); cognate with Old Church Slavonic vasku, Lithuanian vaškas, Polish wosk, Russian vosk "wax" (but these may be from Germanic). Waxworks "exhibition of wax figures representing famous or notorious persons" first recorded 1796.

virile (adj.) 

late 15c., from Old French viril, from Latin virilis "of a man, manly," from vir "a man, a hero," from PIE *uiHro "freeman" (cf. Sanskrit virah, Avestan vira-, Lithuanian vyras, Lithuanian vyras, Old Irish fer, Welsh gwr, Gothic wair, Old English wer "man"). Virile member for "penis" is recorded from 1540s.

vomit (n.) 

late 14c., "act of expelling contents of the stomach through the mouth," from Latin vomitare "to vomit often," frequentative of vomere "spew forth, discharge," from PIE root*wem- "to spit, vomit" (cf. Greek emein "to vomit," emetikos "provoking sickness;" Sanskrit vamati "he vomits;" Avestan vam- "to spit;" Lithuanian vemiu "to vomit," Old Norse væma "seasickness"). In reference to the matter so ejected, it is attested from late 14c.

table (n.) 

late 12c., "board, slab, plate," from Old French table "board, plank, writing table, picture" (11c.), and late Old English tabele, from West Germanic *tabal (cf. Old High Germanzabel, German Tafel), both the French and Germanic words from Latin tabula "a board, plank, table," originally "small flat slab or piece" usually for inscriptions or for games, of uncertain origin, related to Umbrian tafle "on the board."

The sense of "piece of furniture with the flat top and legs" first recorded c.1300 (the usual Latin word for this was mensa (see mensa); Old English writers used bord (see board(n.1)). The meaning "arrangement of numbers or other figures for convenience" is recorded from late 14c. (e.g. table of contents, mid-15c.). 
Figurative phrase turn the tables (1630s) is from backgammon (in Old and Middle English the game was called tables). Table talk is attested from 1560s, translating Latincolloquia mensalis. To table-hop is first recorded 1956. The adjectival phrase under-the-table "hidden from view" is recorded from 1949; under the table "passed out from excess drinking" is recorded from 1921. Table tennis is recorded from 1887.

Shaman

                Lithuanian: šamanas

                through Russian шама́н from Tungus shaman, perhaps from Chinese 薩滿 Sà mǎn,                   via Prakrit समन finally from Sanskrit श्रमण sramana-s "a Buddhist monk".

Zen 

through Japanese 禅 and Chinese 禪 Chán ultimately from Pali झन jhāna and Sanskrit ध्यान dhyana, which means "a meditation". *Lithuanian: Dėmesio