12. A combination of breathing sounds
and an aggressive r sound: kr-gr, rk-rg and pr-rp
Not all roads were convenient and beloved for our ancestors. There were also difficult and dangerous areas, which, unlike the soft l sound, were marked with an aggressive r sound. Why were such roads inconvenient? For example, sharp stones that cut bare feet and broke bones. These were roads littered with broken trees or fallen boulders. It could be a swamp, mountain peaks or hills. Apparently, the protoroots gr, kr, rg and rk appeared in such way.
These protoroots formed many toponyms from Greece, Georgia, Crimea and Gurzuf to the usual words: kremen (flint), granite, krepost (fortress), Riga and even krov (blood). I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in the explanatory dictionary of Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl, along with the modern meaning of the word riga, the old one has also preserved, riga is an inconvenient, dangerous and bad way. For a long time I could not understand how the name of the city of Paris (Perigee) appeared, but everything turned out to be quite simple.
However, what would happen if forest fires blocked the way? How could our ancestors have designated their aggressive and fiery breath? This is how the aggressive protoroot pr appeared. It formed the basis of the word ogon (fire) itself. In ancient Greek, πῦρ means fire. Now few people remember this, but this root has preserved many words. What are these words? Pyrotechnics, Prometheus, pyramid, pir (feast) and, of course, our pirozhok (pie). The words rapier, shampur (skewer) and pirate also be relevant to fire. Who, when and for how long mastered the fire, we will never know. Archaeologists call different dates of the beginning of the use of fire by ancient man. From a million years to seventy thousand. However, it is one thing to learn how to use the fire forest fires, to learn how to keep it, and it is quite another thing to learn how to extract it yourself and use it in production. It is interesting that Russian word ogon goes back to the fires of the swamp, but the root pir (πῦρ) was also used.
13. The sound of food m
and the aggressive protoroot r:
mr and rm
There is no need to talk about delicious and pleasant food. The food is always pleasant. Probably, it is possible to enhance its taste with a soft sound l ml, ml`eko (an ancient form of the word moloko milk ), molot (grind), mal`en`kiy (small), but there is no great need for this. Although were found many sacred stones on which grain was ground.
However, there is a need to protect people from trouble and aggressive danger that food can bring. Therefore, two combinations of protoroots: mr and rm appeared. Despite the fact that they are based on two roots: m for food and r for aggression, their meaning is markedly different.
The protoroot mr aggressive food has the meaning mertviy (dead). Perhaps, food that carries aggression, trouble, pain and death. It formed a large number of words: mor (pestilence), mertviy (dead), smrad (stench), merzost (abomination) and others. This is the moroz (frost) that kills all living things. This is also the more (sea), the famous mertvayavoda (dead water), unsuitable for drinking, but having healing properties, water which has retained its name in Russian folk tales about living water and dead water. This is the Greek god of dreams Morpheus, and even the science of morphology. Surprisingly, this root also forms the word mir (peace). However, the interpretation is a little creepy: peace (mir) came after the last warrior died. There was no one to fight. Then came mir eternal rest. Zamirenie (from Russian archaic verb usmirit which meant, to make piece). Over time, the meaning of the word expanded, but the original meaning absence of war, or to replace war remained.
The protoroots m and r in reverse order form a protoroot that has a completely different meaning. Rm is aggression that prevents access to food. It is easier to understand its meaning if we consider the word rama (frame) formed by this root. Russian Dictionary by Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl or the etymological dictionary of the Russian language by Max Fasmer is enough to hear the whole palette of meanings of this ancient protoroot. Moreover, both Fasmer and Dahl explain this word in exactly the same way. Only Fasmer believes that this word is German, and Dahl writes that the Germans borrowed it from the Slavs. The word ramo has quite a lot of meanings, from the concept of plecho (shoulder) to a variety of meanings: buiniy (violent), sil`niy (strong), ogromniy (huge), krepkiy (hard), dremuchiy (dense), kray (edge), granitsa (border). It even reaches such meanings as chudo (miracle) and chudovishche (monster). Such were the obstacles that a person had to overcome in order to get food and survive.
14. The sounds of contact, poking and the aggressive sound r: tr and dr
Any contact is always dangerous because it can damage the arm, leg or even the head. Even a random hit a rock, a sharp twig, or an unsuccessful fall. What about a non-random hit? The stronger the hit, the more pain it causes. This is how the aggressive touch protoroots tr and dr formed. These protoroots were the basis of a large number of words that have the meaning of aggressive contact, causing pain and damage. The simplest word is dira. Its basis has been preserved in many languages: in Russian dira, in English a tear, in French un trou, in German durchbruch, in Greek τρύπα, in Latin foraminis.
A strong hit always damages or pierces something. The smoke outlet tear is a truba (pipe), (protoroots: tr-po). The hole for the air outlet is the trahea, (trachea) (protoroots: tr-ho). A hole from a blow is a travma (injury) (protoroots: tr-v-ma). A hole in the skull during surgeryis trepanachiya (trepanation) (protoroots: tr-panachiya). Quarrel and striking is a fight (draka, protoroots: dr-ka), that is, a dira/tear in the head. Oven with a hole is tandir (tandoor) (tan-dr). An open hole in the sky is atrium (protoroots: a-tr). An open dira to the gods is teatr (theater) (protoroots: teo-a-tr). Even the word trusi (drawers)is also holes made in the skin where the legs were inserted. The British also have underpants with dira drawers, and clothes with dira dresses. The dress code is also about drawers.
In ancient Greek the male name Peter had the meaning stone, rock (πέτρος). How could it have appeared? The protoroots forming it: po is along and tr is dira, originally spoke of a rocky terrain with sharply protruding stones that wounded, pierced the legs. Later sharp stones were used as tools, preserving both the protoroots po and tr, and the semantic meaning of stone. For example, we can compare it with the name of Khan Giray. Gr-ay is strong as a rock. The word geroy is in the same logic. Strong people were compared to the fortress of a stone or a rock.
There are a huge number of words of the same root. There are also many toponyms that formed these protoroots. We will review some, but among them there is the most famous and oldest toponym Troy. Troy is a dira, a passage to other seas, which the Trojans fiercely defended and for which they extract tribute. Until now, the passage through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits is regulated by various conventions, and wars were fought for this right before.
15. Ancient prepositions
In any textbook of the Russian language there is a section telling about prepositions called ancient or the most ancient. We have many scientific works about prepositions and their properties and we will try to understand how these prepositions appeared and what meanings they were endowed with. Someday, ignorance of these basics put one of the leaders of the Institute of the Russian language in an awkward situation. Therefore, understanding the meaning of ancient prepositions should be treated with great attention.