Content area
Full Text
In the present study the Indo-European 'gold' terminology is analyzed from both etymological and semantic perspectives. Besides various recent innovations and internal and external borrowings, there are two dominant sets of designations for "gold". In one there are derivatives from the root ·ğ elH3"yellow-green"; in the second one from the root ·H2ues- "to burn; be bright, become (morning) light". These derivatives are studied from the point of view of word formation, and linguistic geography, including the onomastic evidence.
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
0. Besides borrowings like Greek "gold", Mycenaean ku-ru-so2, adopted from the Semitic designation of "gold" (cf. Akkadian hurāsu, Ugaritic hrs, Phoenician hrs, Hebrew hārus id., Arabic hirs "golden or silver ring"; see DRS 10, 1032), and innovations like Sanskrit suvárna- [Brahmana], lit. "of beautiful color"; kánaka- [Brahmana] & kañcaná- [Naighanţuka] vs. Greek kv^koç, Doric KvâKoç "yellowish"; hema- [Manu], vs. himá- "frost" [RV], "snow, ice" [Brahmana] etc., there are two sets of designations of "gold", one derived from the root elH3- "yellow-green", and the second probably from the root ·H2eus-/·H2ues- "to burn; be bright, become (morning) light"; the two sets are spread more or less complementarily.
1. The "golden"-derivatives from the root ·ğhelH3- "yellowgreen" are formed by the following suffixes:
1.1. ·gļHļ-en-io- > Indo-Iranian ·zhrHania-:
1.1.1. Indo-Aryan: Vedic híranya- "gold" [RV]; Pali hiranna-; Aśokan Prakrit: rock inscriptions from Shāhbāzgarhī and Mānsehrā hirana-, Girnār hiramna-, Kalsi hilamna-; Prakrit hiraņņa-; Sinhalese (h)araņa-, raņa, ran (Turner 1966, #14110).
1.1.2. Iranian:
1.1.2.1.Old Iranian: Young Avestan zarańiia- n. "gold" [e.g. Yašt 5.129, 17.14; Vīdēvdāt 8.87, 14.11], with variant zarOna- n. [Āfrīn i Zaratšt 4], adj. zaranaēna- [Yašt 5.123] & zardńiia- [Yašt 5.78] "golden", in compounds e.g. zardnu-mani- "with golden necklace" [Yašt 14.33] (Bartholomae 1904, 1678-80, 1683); Old Persian daraniya- n. "gold" [DSf 35-36] (Skjæ rvø 2002, 85); Median ·zarnamaniiā "with golden necklace", ·zarnakara"goldsmith", reconstructed according to an Elamite transcription of the woman's name Za-ir-na-ma-nu-ya (= Avestan zardnu-maini-) and the term za-ir-na-qa-ra respectively (Hinz 1975, 277); Scythian Zapiva3 'queen of Sacae' [Ktesias: Persica, fragment mediated by Diodorus Siculus, 2.34] = Zapivaia [Nicolaus of Damascus] (Justi 1895, 382); Sarmatian Çiptv4 "ransom" [Lukianos: Toxaris vel Amicitia], originally probably ·zarin "golden" (Abaev 1979, 310).
1.1.2.2. Middle Iranian: Middle Persian zr5 [zarr] (MPP 384), Zoroastrian Pahlavi ZHB' [zarr], adj. Zzlyn [zarren]...