Thread

Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek

196 points · 74 comments · axiologist

kleton · 1789709109 · focus · HN ↗
> because the Proto-Indo-European language arose in the landlocked steppes, it had no need for—and has no securely reconstructable word for—‘sea’.
No, it is mori, attested in marine, muir, maryadah, mal, morje, etc in farflung IE tongues today.
1. gucci-on-fleek · 1789713194 · focus · HN ↗
  For an analogous but completely unrelated example, Stoney [0] has a word for "ocean" (mînîtâga) [1], but it's also only spoken in a landlocked region. So maybe human languages have a tendency to preserve/invent the word for "ocean" for some reason?
  (I actually remember asking the professor why they had a word for "ocean", but he wasn't sure either.)
  [0]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoney_language" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoney_language
  [1]: <a href="https://dictionary.stoneynakoda.org/#/L/m%C3%AEn%C3%AEt%C3%A2ga" rel="nofollow">https://dictionary.stoneynakoda.org/#/L/m%C3%AEn%C3%AEt%C3%A...
  1. smitty1e · 1789714152 · focus · HN ↗
    > (I actually remember asking the professor why they had a word for "ocean", but he wasn't sure either.)
    Most likely a reference to Houses of the Holy.
  2. jltsiren · 1789716227 · focus · HN ↗
    Finnish language doesn't have an actual word for "ocean". We use "valtameri", which means something like main sea or great sea. And both "valta" and "meri" are Indo-European loans.
    But in Livonian (an almost extinct Finnic language spoken in Latvia), Valdamer is one of the names for the Baltic Sea. So maybe that's the origin of the Finnish term as well.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.