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Pre-Greek: The lost language hidden within Ancient Greek

196 points · 74 comments · axiologist

  1. kleton · · 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. TFNA · · focus · HN ↗
      There are decades of scholarship on those cognates, and a longstanding view that in Proto-Indo-European the word meant simply "large body of water" and not specifically "sea". Moreover, it may be a substrate word borrowed into European IE languages, as the affinity of that Sanskrit word to this cognate set is not very certain.
      1. medvidek · · focus · HN ↗
        You can see the same with the word "sea". Its German equivalent See still mainly means "lake", even though in some fixed expressions it can be translated as "sea" (e.g. Nordsee, Ostsee).
        1. Lutzb · · focus · HN ↗
          Der See - the lake

          Die See - the ocean

          1. Basje · · focus · HN ↗
            As a Dutch person, we were taught German in secondary school and Meer/See were the textbook example of false friends:

            het meer - der See - the lake

            de zee - das Meer - the sea

            I don't remember being taught "die See" but I also dropped my German course after one year (which I now regret). Anyway, I always thought this was an interesting development in our languages.

            1. samus · · focus · HN ↗
              "die See" refers to the sea in general, not to a specific body of water, unless it is part of a name, like "Nordsee".

              The English word "sea" is also sometimes used in this sense, but it's less apparent since "the" carries no gender: "He liked living close to the sea." - doesn't really refer to a specific sea or ocean even though the definite article has been used. (I'm happy to be corrected if this is an ungrammatical sentence since I'm not a native English speaker)

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