LINGUIST List 6.915

Thu Jun 29 1995

Sum: Borrowing of body part terms

Editor for this issue: Ann Dizdar <dizdartam2000.tamu.edu>

Directory

1. Alexis Manaster Ramer, Summary: Borrowing of Body Part Terms

Many moons ago I posted a query regarding the borrowing of certain
body part terms, notably, heart, eye, ear, and tongue, and never
posted a summary (tsk, tsk). Here it is:

First of all, I have been able to find, either through LINGUIST or
from other sources, clear examples of almost all the basic body
part terms, including 'hand' (many Iranian languages from Persian,
Ossetic from Chechen-Ingush), 'heart' (Polish from Czech, many
Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages from Persian, Turkish from
Arabic), 'tongue' (a whole bunch of Ethiopian languages), and so
on. The one for which I have no completely clearly documented
example is 'ear' (although there are cases of 'ear' being replaced
by a neologism from within the language itself).

**I AM THUS STILL LOOKING FOR AN EXAMPLE OF BORROWING INVOLVING THE
WORD FOR 'EAR'.**

A discussion of the whole question of borrowability of body part
terms and its relation to language classification (esp. with
reference to the Altaic question) will appear in a paper by
Alexander Vovin and me to appear next year in the Zeitschrift der
deutschen morgelandischen Gesellschaft.

Finally, I would like to summarize the information provided by
those who responded to my original query on LINGUIST, to all of
whom my deepest thanks:

Shirley Silver (SILVERsonoma.edu) reported that Mary Haas, having
reconstructed Proto-Hokan 'ear' (and 'navel') noted that one could
find or reconstruct similar forms in other language families
(Penutian, Yuki, and the Algic languages Wiyot & Yurok), which
would seem to suggest borrowing. This is the closest I have come
so far to a borrowed 'ear'.

Benjamin Moore (benedr5r.edr.co.jp) reports that in modern
Japanese, the term for animal tongue used as food is 'tan' a
borrowing of English 'tongue.'

David Costa (dcostagarnet.berkeley.edu) and George Aaron Broadwell
(g.broadwellalbany.edu) note that Choctaw _nishkin_ 'eye' (and
according to Costa other forms in Western Muskogean (Chickasaw &
Choctaw, + Mobilian Jargon), are from some Algonquian source (note
Proto-Algonquian *_ne$ki:n$ekwi_), a suggestion which I have found
goes back at least to Mary Haas. However, I should add that Ives
Goddard, whom I asked about this, expressed strong doubt about any
such connection.

Bruce Connell (connellbvax.ox.ac.uk) reported that 'heart' in
Usaghade (Lower Cross < Benue-Congo) is apparently borrowed from a
neighbouring Bantu language, with semantic shift. Tone marking
omitted, Usaghade ebuma, 'heart' Proto-Bantu *-bumo, 'stomach'.

Jakob Dempsey (jakobu.washington.edu) reported that the common
word for 'tongue' in standard Chinese and in Hmong-Mien languages
(generally speaking) [HM = Miao-Yao] is very likely related,
suggesting borrowing, since these languages are not considered
genetically linked.

Norbert Strade <lingnosthum.aau.dk> reported that the Finnish word
for "neck", "kaula", is borrowed from Baltic.

Cynthia Vakareliyska (VAKARELOREGON.UOREGON.EDU) pointed that some
Slavists believe that the Russian word for 'eye' (_glaz_) is
borrowed from Germany. (I have been slowly tracing the origin of
this opinion, which appears to be in error, but have not yet gotten
all the way to the bottom of it. In my view the correct etymology,
which is given by several authorities, is a shift in meaning of the
native word for 'stone', 'boulder' or the like).

References from the above:

Connell, B. (in press) The role of language contact in the
development of Usaghade. To appear in SUGIA (Sprache und Geschichte
in Afrika) 16 or 17, Special issue on 'Language Contact and
Historical Change'.

Haas, Mary R. 1964. California Hokan. In Studies in Californian
Linguistics. William Bright, ed. University of California
Publications in Linguistics 34:73-87.

Jacob, Betty; T. Dale Nicklas; and Betty Lou Spencer. 1977.
Introduction to Choctaw. Durant, OK: Choctaw Bilingual Education
Program, Southeastern Oklahoma State University.