Open AccessK ETYMOLOGIJI PSŁ. *SLĚPЪ/SLEPЪ
Author(s) -
EDWARD WORNAR
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
slavia occidentalis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2544-9222
pISSN - 0081-0002
DOI - 10.14746/so.2020.77.11
Subject(s) - etymology , root (linguistics) , linguistics , lithuanian , opposition (politics) , slavic languages , connection (principal bundle) , mathematics , philosophy , psychology , literature , art , political science , geometry , politics , law
This article explains the hitherto unexplained variation of the root *slep/slěp- ‘blind’ which results from an old opposition of the causative (lengthened grade) vs. regular root (regular grade). This indicates a connection with the Lithuanian silpnas as a zero-grade root for the Slavic word which previously had no convincing parallels in other languages. Semantically, a connection with words meaning ‘sticky’ (as postulated by Šewc 1978 and others) should be rejected: they are neither phonetically nor semantically convincing. The preference is for the interpretation of blindness as a special kind of weakness.