Etymology of meanings. Brief etymological dictionary of planetary toponyms. At the origins of civilization

Get to the truth

Any work requires a reliable tool – even if we decide to make a mental journey to the language’s origins. The science of etymology seems to have been created in order to restore broken connections in the meanings of words. It is designed to look inside the form, “in-form” about the origin and meaning of the word, to tell about its metamorphoses – what happened to this word once and what is happening to it now.

The word “etymology” (ττυμολογία) is a Greek word. It consists of two words: “etymon” (ττυμον) is the “truth” and “logos” (λόγος)is “to speak”. It was invented by ancient philosophers, who already understood perfectly well that without knowledge of the true meaning of the word, it is impossible to know the truth.

The first sound “e” indicates some kind of affiliation. In the words “ego” and “ekho” (echo), it explains that it is about the person. In the word “eco” is about something what surrounds person, about his\her home, environment. Behind the word “etika” (ethics) lies a reasonable, meaningful human activity. Even the word “efir” (ether) has its own identity – literally, “belonging to a hole” filled with something invisible, but necessarily all-encompassing and all-pervading. The words “Hellenic” and “Hellas” are about places that belong to my favorite Greeks, where “lada” is in the same semantic field as the Russian “lad” (harmony).

In the word “etymon” (the meaning of the word), the protoroot “mon” is the key, which means that truth is unique and “monarchical”, as well as harmony. “Mon” is the only one who brings food, who is the “master of offspring”, and any other “mn” can not be. These are the harsh conditions of existence. This protoroot has generated a lot of words, which emphasize the separateness, uniqueness, exclusivity. It is sound in the words “monakh” (monk) and “monarkh” (monarch), in the names Solomon and Suleyman; it can be found in the word “ataman” (father, senior man) and in the word “mongol” (mon-Ka-le, nomad).

The brilliant Russian conductor Teodor Curentzis once said that harmony is a point. How right he is! Harmony is the point, the unity, of which the first biblical commandment speaks. So “etymon” is a unified understanding of our actions, our existence. This is the truth.

The second part of the word “etymology” goes back to the biblical “logos” (word). Academician Dmitry Likhachev has repeatedly warned that we understand or interpret some ancient texts incorrectly. In his opinion, the translation of the gospel text: “In the beginning was “logos” (word\“slovo”)—incorrectly conveys the meaning of the word “logos”. In the ancient Greek Dictionary of Joseph Dvornitsky, “logos” has 34 different “nests of meanings”. In our reading, this word goes back to three ancient roots: “lo”, “kho” and “s”. The first has the meaning “beloved”, the second is the sound of breathing-means “dusha” (soul), and the third means “sacred water”. What meaning could these sounds have acquired over the centuries? We can agree with academician Likhachev that we are talking about what distinguishes man from the animal world – about the ability to think.

However, Likhachev could be wrong because as the great Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev said: “A spoken thought is a lie.” Fedor Ivanovich knew perfectly well that the ancient Greek word “legu” is translated as “to speak”, but in Russian it is interpreted quite differently. Still, let’s focus on what is close to us. “Etymology” is the desire to get to the truth, to understand the meaning and essence of our being. Jesus Christ, pronouncing the Covenant: “Verily I say unto you,” I sincerely wanted people to get rid of lies, deception and delusions. So we are trying to understand and interpret the deep meaning of our language, our speech, our being.

Ancient prepositions

Wisdom teaches that if you are confused and can’t find the right way, go back and start all over again. This “technique” is acceptable even for functional parts of speech: prepositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections. Modern science does not give an unambiguous understanding of how these words occurred and where to look for their “primitive” meanings. My heart tells me that they were born together with the protoroots and have a similar nature.

Let’s start with the simplest – the ancient preposition “k”—in English “to”. If the sounds “kh”, “g “and"k” came from the human breath, then the ancient preposition “k” belongs to this group. Its meaning is close to the meaning of “way”, “direction”—where to go, what we will come to.

The preposition “o”—in English “about”—got its meaning not so much from the pronounced sound, but from the shape of the lips in which it is formed – around, about or about something.

The ancient preposition “u”—in English “near”—, being the sound of breathing, had a special connotation – it attracted the attention of a tribesman to some circumstance, phenomenon, object. It is the sound of moaning, the sound of crying. This is an “invitation” to come closer, to share others in your pain. Its later values are “near” or “around” or otherwise marked “accessory”, the closeness, the belonging to someone, a sense of ownership.

The sound “a”—in English [a] —was always the sound of an open mouth. It can have a variety of meanings. In combination with the sounds of feeding, it forms a combination of “ma” or “na”, indicating the desire to eat, the readiness to take food. A child will never ask to be fed with a combination of “m” and “o” sounds. The same applies to the combination of “na”, which we pronounce when we offer food to the child. By the way, I have repeatedly seen that a child, when holding out his hands to food, also utters a cherished and kind “na”, as opposed to a restrictive “no” (but).

Oddly enough, the ancient preposition “po”—in English “at”—is also formed from the sounds of breathing. “P “is the sound of “puffing”, the sound of “locking” the lips and then releasing the air with a little effort. It’s either puffing or farting. Over time, this sound has grown more complex meanings, has passed through centuries of evolution and now it denotes what surrounds us. The later meaning “along” appeared during numerous human journeys. But at the time when the first sounds and meanings were put into speech, people lived in burrows, and the preposition “po” had a very modest scale.

The preposition “s”—in English “with”—originally went back to the sounds of drinking and the protoroot “ms”. In some languages, the meaning of the words “drink”, “water” has retained the sound “m”, in others—“s”. The Japanese have preserved the root completely. In Hebrew, both the word “sea” and the word “water” retained the “m” sound. In Turkic languages “su” means water, in English—“sea”. However, the question remains, how was the preposition “s” formed with the meaning “together”? Most likely, its origin was connected with the rules of hunting, or some rules of visiting a water hole, or with the ancient instinct of emptying the bladder together.

In general, the combination the sounds of “puffing” and “water” in ancient times formed the root “ps”. It is found in many languages around the world – as well as protoroot “pkh”. Protoroot “pr” is also the sound of “puffing”, but not simple, but aggressive, when something is pierced or flatulence is released too deliberately.

Finally, derived from the breath sounds include protoroot “ku”. If taken literally, it meant “at the head”, “near the head”, something intelligent. Over time, it received several values. For example, the meaning of “ruka” (hand) is “separate from the head” but “with understanding”. From this root came such words as “kulak” (fist), “kul`tya” (stump\an amputated arm), “kul`tura” (culture). And the name Akulina since ancient times had the meaning “inept”, “crooked”, and this is inherent in the name, where the sound “a” is a certain opposite. The protoroot “ru” also has its origins. If “u” is “near”, then the aggressive “r” was intended to separate from this “near”, to become “separate”.

There are a number of prepositions, phonemes, and protoroots those are associated with the action of a person, with his\her contact with the environment, penetration into it. In this regard, the preposition “v”—in English “in\into\inside”—is interesting, it means effort, tension, desire to get inside something. It is directly related to the extraction of insects or small animals from hidden places: whether it is the stem of a plant, or the trunk of a tree, or a mink in the ground. Ancient man needed not only to search for food, but also to be able to extract it by looking inside. This explains why both the Russian word “zhivot” (belly) and the Latin word “vita” have the main sound “v”.

You can make out one of the forms of the preposition “v”—the basic word “vnutri” (inside). The sound “n” indicates the taste of food, protoroots “tr-dr” goes back to “aggressive poking”, or, simply, holed something or pierced. Protoroot “dr” is a “hole where delicious food is hidden” and you need to get to it. The ancient preposition “v” is also echoed by the sound “b”, which is related to it. In many cases, it expresses a kind of “passionate satisfaction”—both from the food taken, and from other pleasures, including sexual ones.

The possibility of penetration and contact brought to life the ancient prepositions “to”—in English “that”—and “do” (in English “this”). The “t” sound was a “poking” sound that indicated obstacles. These obstacles, as in a dense forest, can be around-hitting branches on the cheeks, blocking the way with tree trunks or making you stumble over rocks. Only after looking around and getting used to it, you begin to definitely designate a place with an obstacle—“to” (that) place, “eto” (this) place.

In the preposition “k”, the sonorous sound “d” only strengthens this meaning. “Do” is already a more serious obstacle, restriction, “pillars of Hercules”, beyond which movement is impossible. The meaning of this preposition has been preserved to this day, although it has expanded over the course of evolution, and received different shades, but the original meaning— “limited poking”—has been preserved in it.

Many different derived combinations have appeared from the original forms of these ancient prepositions. Vowel sounds complemented the meanings. The language was filled with various “to”, “ta”, “te”, “tam”, “do”, “da”. The last “da” is particularly interesting. The sound of a poke, an obstacle, coming into contact with an open vowel “a”, completely changes – like Cinderella after the wave of a magic wand. The vowel “a” indicates that the insurmountable obstacle, as it seemed at first, is no longer an obstacle, and the dirty rags have been replaced by a ball gown.

“Da” is consent, the abolition of borders, the abolition of obstacles. You mustn’t, but you can! This protoroot was very common in the everyday life of our forefathers, having the meaning of “consent” in sexual relationships. “Da” is permission for sexual contact. Already in those early days, the meaning of “consent” became associated with the possibility of coitus, that is, access to woman’s sexual organs, and later – with the female sexual organ. This meaning of “consent” to mating and the name of the female sexual organ formed many words that have survived to our time.

Obstacles served as the beginning of the appearance of the “do” and “no” roots, becoming a common mechanism for their appearance. Still, if the “do” meant a restriction, then the protoroot “no”, as opposed to the open “na”, was perceived as an objection or denial.

You can practice word formation using the oldest roots. Let “do” be a limited” poking”, a certain limit, and “no” is an objection, a negation. Combining them, we get the word “dono”– “dno” (bottom) that has been preserved to our time. It turns out that “dno” is the absence of a limit: a person pokes a stick into the water, and the stick does not rest anywhere. There is no stop, no limit. There is no “do”—deep to it. Now this word has the opposite meaning: a certain surface, a stop under water. But in the names of rivers, this combination of ancient prepositions had original meanings. “Dono” is a property of deep rivers that could not be forded. “Dono”—no limit, no bottom, it is deep. This original meaning is preserved in the ancient word “Avaddon” (Abaddon), which basically refers to the “abyss”. There are many toponyms\place names with this “dono” on the planet: the Don (river), Caledonia, Dongola, London, and hundreds of others.

Allowing yourself to experiment, you can “play” with the vowel “a”—the sound of food. If we take the same ancient preposition “do”, and put the protoroot “na” before it, we get the word “nado” (to need\must), which spoils everyone’s mood and forces them to mobilize all their personal resources. What is “nado”? This is a kind of “sweet need”, which is in the way of satisfying the ill-fated “do” is an obstacle. As a result, “nado” became a symbol of overcoming. Given that “na” has the meaning of “something located on top”, we can interpret this word as an action “over the limit”—a very common phenomenon of Russian life, which does not choose long paths, but goes through the mountains…

About the “mountain beginning” say protoroots “ay” [aɪ] and “ya”. They are often found in the names of mountains, ridges or mountain rivers. The combination of the sounds “y” and “a” is formed when we look up. If a person raises his head at the same time when pronouncing any sounds, then the vowels – first of all, the “a” sound come out unhindered. But as soon as the trachea bends, interrupting the air, a “i” sound appears. From this movement of the head two ancient protoroots appeared: “ay” is a movement up, “ya” is a movement down. Or simply: “ay”—at the top, “ya”—from top to the bottom.

There is a beautiful example to understand how words appeared in ancient times – this is the English word “ice”, consisting of two roots: “ay” and “s”. The first signified upward movement, the second is water. Where “above” could there be water? Only in the mountains, on icy snow-capped peaks. Therefore, the word “ice”—even without translation means frozen on the tops of “mountain water”. Protoroot “ay” gave the name of the white color. Where could the ancient people see the white color? Only on the snow-capped peaks of high mountains.

Sorting out such combinations is an exciting, useful, and even unpredictable activity, as we will see more than once. The main thing is to understand that all words have their origin in deep and “common” antiquity, growing out of meaningful sounds that our forefathers exchanged.

Water is a life!

Protoroots in the ancient names of water bodies

If my first significant discovery was the mystery of the origin and main meaning of the sound “l’”, then the next key realization was the idea that language is natural, physiological and firmly woven into the environment. Ancient sounds and ancient toponyms\place names are directly related, so the names of localities are a map written in the primordial language of mankind. These are landmarks of ancient people. Names of the environment appeared long before writing and long before the formation of the languages and peoples known to us. In fact, toponyms\place names are a huge legacy of ancient times, which we own now – and not always consciously.

What have always people needed? The most basic needs are air, water, and food. A person can live without air for several minutes, without water – for several days, and not much longer without food. Therefore, all the oldest names are somehow connected with the sources of life.

However, “to know the taste of water, you need to start drinking”, draw in a handful of spring water and hear the sound “ms”—an ancient root that is easy to find in the names of water bodies. I didn’t even have to go far for examples. In the Chelyabinsk region, there are many hydrological toponyms\place names that go back to this root. First of all, the Miass River. And there is a Lake Misyash (Mises). There is also a swampy place called Mysy (Capes). A little further is Lake Karmyskaly. We found Karamys, Muslyumovo, Lake Machacul, Lake Mysty, Utemis, Lake Mushaykul and derived from this protoroot: the Meseda River, the Lemeza River, and even the Kamyshinka River. The meaning of the word “kamysh” (reed) is understood very simply: “ga” is a way, “ms” is water. So it is “the way to water”. Where does the reeds grow? Such place names scattered across the country: Kamyshly, the city of Kamyshlov, Kamysl, the city of Kamyshin and others. Who “named” the southern Urals? There is a hypothesis that the ancient Aryans migrated to India and the middle East from the Northern territories of modern Russia, and these paths lay through the South Ural lands, which still preserve the “toponymic memory” of the migration of peoples. But I think that the names were given much earlier, when this land was inhabited by very ancient tribes.

Interested to read in the map of Russia: the Mius River, the Meza River, the city of Mezen’, the Mzymsha River, the Mshaga River, the Msta River, Muzga, the Mosha River, the Moshka River, the city of Mozhga, the Masa River. And the city of Moscow, our great capital, which grew up on the banks of the river of the same name, is a toponym\place name that goes back to the protoroot “ms” and once sounded like “Moskov” or “Moskova”. One thing led to another. Several times I rested on the Black Sea coast in the city of Anapa and the city of Gelendzhik, and there, too, I saw some rivers which names are formed by this protoroot. The largest river flows in Novorossiysk – the Tsemes River. In Gelendzhik the main river is the Mezub́ River. There is a river with a funny name near Anapa – the Mozhepsin River. The river is small, so you can understand the meaning of our ancestors laid in the name. It is easy to guess how the name of the Shumay River appeared – literally: “water from the mountains”. And flowing far away from the village Raevskaya the Maskaga River is already a classic of “world” title. The same classic is the name of the Myskhako River, which flows on the Black Sea coast.

Outside of our country, toponyms\place names with the protoroot “ms” are multiplying: in Europe we have the famous Meuse River, the Moselle River flows in the same place, and in England the Thames River flows too. In the Middle East, Lake Mosul is located in the course of the famous Tigris River. The same name is given to the downstream of the city of Mosul. Note that the names the Moselle and the Mosul (Musil’) have the same protoroot: “ms” is “water”, and the soft sound “el’” means “good”, “beloved”, “divine”.

I don’t believe in the coincidences—“divine water” doesn’t just appear. In Libya, there is an ancient city of Al Khoms (Hums). In Syria, there is a large Lake Khoms, on the Bank of which there is the city of the same name is located. And to the South – the Khoms desert, with drying rivers that flowed into the famous Palmyra. How can we explain the origin of these names? All of them have one common meaning—“the way to water”. If you and I wanted to offer the ancient people to go to the water body, how would we say it? There are protoroot “ga”, which designates the way, the movement; also we have our life-giving protoroot “ms”, indicating the water. We would say “ga-ms”, “kho-ms” or “ms-ga”—the way to a place where you can get drunk.