*Neman, nšmw och radikalt *nem-

Författare

  • Hans Jonsson

Abstract

The etymological relation between Germanic *neman ‘take’ (> Icelandic nema, Gothic niman, German nehmen etc.) and Greek nšmw ‘distribute’ is frequently discussed. Like many others, I will adress the question: Do these verbs belong to the same root *nemor to different homonymous roots? Mainly accepting the analyses of Emanuel Laroche (1949), I take the following standpoints: Radical connection between Germanic *neman ‘take’ and Greek. nšmw ‘distribute’ is impossible. That is obvious from a closer investigation of the meaning of neman compared to the meaning of nšmw and, not least, to that of nwm£w; the latter is a parallel derivation of the same *nem- as nšmw. Morover, it can’t be ruled out that *nem- in *neman is a transformation of *em- ‘take’ in Italic languages (lat. emo etc.) and in Celtic and Balto-Slavic languages. I also discuss the following words in Indo-European dialects: Sanscrit námati ‘bows’, namas ‘token of respect’, Avestian nÉmati ‘loan’, Lithuanian núoma/Latvian nuõma ‘leashold, rent’ and lat. nemus ‘wood’. I adress the question wheter there is radical connection between these and Greek nšmw. The tentative answer is: most probably not.

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2019-02-14

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