Baltic “*balā” ‘mud, bog, marsh’ at the Indo-European Backdrop

Straipsniai / Articles 11 VÁCLAV BLAŽEK Masaryk University ORCID id: orcid.org./0000-0002-6797-7188 Fields of research: Baltic & Indo-European etymology and onomastics. DOI: doi.org/10.35321/all87-01 BALTIC *BALĀ ‘MUD, BOG, MARSH’ AT THE INDOEUROPEAN BACKDROP Baltų *balā ‘purvas, liūnas, pelkė’ indoeuropiečių kalbų kontekste ANNOTATION In this article the Baltic term *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ is analyzed from the point of view of its word-formation and etymology. The discussion of preceding etymologies leads to the choice of the cognates in Germanic *pōla-, and possibly Continental Celtic *bolā, all ‘swamp, marsh’, plus newly the Slavic term *ǫb(ъ)lъ ‘source, spring; well’ as *-bo ‘unmuddy’ = ‘clear (water)’. The Germanic comparanda imply the rare initial *b-, for some linguists, namely representatives of the Leiden school, indicating the “non-IndoEuropean” origin. It is tested if the etymon could represent an extension in -lfrom the root *guebh- ‘marsh, swamp’ in the zero-grade of ablaut in agreement with the ideas of Alexander Lubotsky. KEYWORDS: Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, Slavic, source, umuddy, swamp. ANOTACIJA Straipsnyje baltiškas terminas *balā ‘purvas, liūnas, pelkė’ analizuojamas žodžių darybos ir etimologijos požiūriu. Aptarus ankstesnes etimologijas, pasirenkami giminiški žodžiai – germanų *pōlair galbūt žemyno keltų *bolā, reiškiantys ‘pelkė, liūnas’, o taip pat naujai pridedamas slaviškas terminas *ǫb(ъ)lъ ‘versmė, šaltinis; šulinys’, kuris analizuojamas kaip *-bo ‘nepurvinas’ = ‘skaidrus (vanduo)’. Kai kurių kalbininkų, kaip antai Leideno mokyklos atstovų, teigimu, germaniški lyginamieji žodžiai nurodo retą žodžio pradžios *b-, kuri suponuoja „neindoeuropietišką“ kilmę. Remiantis Aleksandro Lubotskio idėjomis, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 12 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXVII straipsnyje analizuojama, ar šis etimonas galėtų būti nulinio balsių kaitos laipsnio šaknį *guebh- ‘liūnas, pelkė’ praplečiančio elemento -lpavyzdys. ESMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: baltiškas, germaniškas, keltiškas, slaviškas, versmė, nepurvinas, pelkė. 1. ATTESTATION 1.1. Lithuanian balà ‘mud, bog, marshy area; spilled water, puddle’, dial. also bal; derivatives: balýnas ‘swamp, bog’, balỹnė id., balỹstas, -à dial. ‘muddy, marshy’, balókšnis ‘small muddy area, puddle, water-filled hole, e.g. in a road’, balótos pevos f. pl. ‘muddy meadows’, linabalė ‘boggy meadow’. Toponyms: river names Baláitis, Balnis, Bãlupis; lake names Baluosỹs, Baluõšas, Bãlakampis, Bãlažeris; place names Bãlos, Balalė, Bališkės 2x, Bãliškiai 2x, Balškiai 2x, Balùškiai 2x, Ažùbaliai 12x, Ažùbalis 9x, Pabalia, Ùžbaliai 9x, Užùbaliai 17x, cp. Balagãnas, Balagãnai, Babutai, Baldegia, Bakalnis, and Ėgliabaliai, Ožkabalia 3x, Šlapabalė, Veršióbalis, Vilkabaliai 3x (Smoczyński 2018: 86: some of these names may belong to the adj. bãlas ‘white’; ALEW 87). 1.2. Latvian bala1 ‘clayey, treeless valley’, pl. balas ‘soggy, infertile soil’ (ME I: 253), besides bȩlute ‘hole filled with water’ (ME I: 278), which corresponds to Lithuanian balùtė id. (Nevskaja 1977: 18); derivatives: baliņa ‘puddle’ (ibid.). Toponyms: river name Balupe, i.e. ‘swamp-river’ (Endzelin 1934: 121); mountain name Balates kalns, i.e. ‘swamp-mountain’ (Fraenkel 1962–1965: 30). 1.3. In Old Prussian the corresponding appellative is not known, only toponyms, which are probably related: Lake name Balyngen (1361) corresponding to the Lithuanian hydronym Balinguva; place names as 1409 Balionynen, 1284 Balowe, 1423 Balositen ~ Lithuanian Baluoso ẽžeras (Gerullis 1922: 15, 232; Toporov 1975: 184; Blažienė 2005: 24), 1782 Balite (Blažienė 2000: 15), Bałupiany, 1790 Ballupöhnen ~ Lithuanian river names Balùpis, Bãlupis (Przybytek 1993: 18), 1423 Bolausen (Gerullis 1922: 14; Blažienė 2005: 32–33). 1.4. There are traces of the related Baltic hydronyms outside the territory of the historical Baltic languages, namely Bályn in the basin of the Ukrainian river Desna corresponding to the name of the Lithuanian lake Balinis (Toporov, Trubačev 1962: 176; SHU 32), or the river Baly from the basin of the river 1 The word is attested only in the neighborhood of the Latvian-Lithuanian language border. That is why it is possible to think about the Lithuanian origin of this Latvian word (cf. ALEW 87). Straipsniai / Articles 13 Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ at the Indo-European Backdrop Horyň (Trubačev 1968: 227, 249; SHU 32), although its Slavic origin cannot be excluded too. 1.5. Baltic origin can be ascribed to one Northeast Russian dialectism balarúžina ‘puddle’ from the basin of the upper Volga, Vjatka and Don (cf. Vasmer I: 46 and Anikin 2008: 127, preferring the primary form with metathesis of liquids *baralúžina or *barolúžina). It is tempting to think about the primary Baltic – East Slavic compound *bala-lužina corresponding to e.g. Polish kałuża < *kało-łuża (Pastrnek 1902: 303), Czech kaluž < *kalo-luža ‘puddle’, lit. ‘muddy puddle’ (Machek 1968: 237), although the segmentation kał-uża is also in the play. 2. THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO APPROACHES TO ETYMOLOGIZING BALTIC *BALĀ 2.1. The Baltic term *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ has usually been connected with Slavic *bòlto ‘swamp’, which penetrated into some modern non-Slavic languages of the Balkans: Albanian baltë ‘mud, swamp’; Romanian baltă ‘mud, swamp’; Modern Greek βάλτος ‘swamp’ (Derksen 2007: 53). But with regard to the word formation, the exact counterpart of Slavic *bòlto is Baltic *baltas ‘white’ > Lithuanian báltas, Latvian bats ‘white’, Old Prussian NL Namuynbalt (Derksen 2015: 80), which should be related to Lithuanian bãlas ‘white’, Latvian bls ‘pale’; Slavic *blъ ‘white’2 (Derksen 2015: 78), and further Greek φαλός· λευκός (Hesych.), φαλιός ‘bright, white-spotted’ (Call.), etc.; Gothic *bala-, recorded by e.g. Ennodius: de equo badio et balane ‘of a gray and bala horse’ (Lehmann 1986: 59; Pokorny 1959: 118–119). These cognates imply the initial *bh-. 2.2. The alternative set of cognates to Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ agree with it in both word formation and semantics, while the initial should be reconstructed as IE *b-, e.g. without any aspiration. 2.2.1. West Germanic *pōla- (EWAhd 6: cc. 505–507; Kroonen 2013: 398: non-IE): 2 The semantic relation between ‘swamp, marsh, mud’ and ‘white’ can be illustrated by the transparent Slavic examples like Polish biel (dial.), bielaw, Belorussian bel’ ‘swampy meadow’, both derivable from *blъ ‘white’ (Derksen 2007: 53; ESSJ 2: 180). VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 14 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXVII • Old English pōl m. ‘swamp, marsh’,3 Middle English pōl(e) ‘small body of still water, pond, lake, marsh’, English pool ‘small body of still water, pond, lake, marsh, shallow water in a sea’; • Old English > Old Norse pollr m. ‘round bay, pond, puddle’, Icelandic, Faroese pollur m. id., Norwegian poll id. (> Saami Nor. bǫllo ‘small round fjord’), plus Norn pøl, poil m. ‘narrow bay, pond, marsh’ > Manx poyll (de Vries 1962: 427); • Old Frisian pōl m. ‘marsh, muddy hole, hole filled with water’, New West Frisian poel m./f. ‘stagnant water, pond, lake, depth’; • Old Low Franconian puol ‘pond, marsh’ (usually in toponyms), Middle Dutch, Dutch poel m. ‘swamp, marsh, pond, stagnant waters’; • Middle Low German pōl, pūl m. ‘puddle, marsh’; from here Danish pöl ‘puddle’, Norwegian (Bm./Nn.) pøl m. ‘hole filled with water, puddle, swamp’, Old Swedish, Swedish pöl id. (with the plural umlaut); • Old High German pfuol m. (aor i-stem), from the 11th cent. in glosses: ‘marsh, puddle, hole with liquid manure; cloaca, lama, palus, volutabrum’, German Pfuhl m. ‘small pond; accumulation of dirt water, liquid manure’. The lengthened root vowel in West Germanic *pōlastanding against the short root vowel in Baltic *balā could be explained via the vddhi-formation of the Germanic form. The unlengthened root vowel in Germanic may be identified in Dutch peel ‘marsh, swamp’ < West Germanic *pali-. Boutkan & Siebinga (2005: 309) further added Modern East Frisian paller(d) ‘swamp, marsh’ < *pall-, and Modern Icelandic pula id. < *pul-. From the perspective of word formation, the protoforms *pōlaand *palimay represent a pair, which is analogical to Northwest Germanic *mōra- ‘swampy soil’ and Germanic *mari- ‘sea’ (Udolph 1994: 135; cf. Darms 1978: 158–166). 2.2.2. Another language differing between the Indo-European voiced and voiced aspirated stops is Sanskrit. C.C. Uhlenbeck (1898: 99, 97) thought about a connection with Old English pōl m. ‘swamp, marsh’, Old High German pfuol ‘marsh, puddle, hole with liquid manure’, Lithuanian balà ‘mud, bog, marshy area; spilled water, puddle’ on the one hand and Sanskrit jambāla- ‘mud, clay, marsh’ (Pañcatantra, etc.) on the other hand. Uhlenbeck saw in the Sanskrit word a compound, where the first component should correspond to Vedic 3 The Old English origin has been ascribed to such insular Celtic forms as Middle Welsh (14th cent.), Welsh pwll ‘hole, pond, puddle; mine’, Old Cornish pol ‘puteus’, Middle Cornish pol ‘hole, well; ditch, moat’, Old Breton NL Pul-Bili, Middle Breton pul, poul, Breton poull ‘hole, ditch’; Irish poll ‘hole, opening in earth’ (Deshayes 2003: 595). Old English pull m. a-st./f. ō-st. ‘pond, bay’, with the variant pyll m. (a-st.) ‘narrow bay, arm of a river, pond’ > Middle English pil ‘narrow bay’, English pill id., are probably a back-borrowing from Brittonic. Straipsniai / Articles 15 Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ at the Indo-European Backdrop jm- ‘earth’. On the other hand, Kuiper (1948: 60–61) saw here a loan of Mundic origin on the basis of Santali jab jab, jb jb, jb, jbh ‘wet, moist, damp’, jb ‘to dirty, wet, roll in mud or water’, jubhi ‘marshy, swampy, boggy’, Mundari jubhi, Ho jobe ‘mud’, Kharia jobhi ‘swampy ground’, etc. In principle, it is legitimate to think about a hypothetical hybrid Mundic – Indo-Aryan compound *jab-bālawhose both components bear a more or less identical meaning ‘mud’. The component *bālacould reflect both *beHlo-/*boHloand *boloin agreement with Lex Brugmann or its lengthened vrddhi-variant. Although this idea is attractive, it remains only a speculation. 2.2.3. A more probable relative could be found in the pre-Romance dialectism bola ‘swamp, marsh’, which was recorded in Piemont in North Italy and the canton Ticino/Tessin in South Swiss, in the locality Arbedo. Meyer-Lübke (1935: n. 1191b) thought about its Gaulish or Ligurian origin and identified its relatives in German Pfuhl and Lithuanian balà. But the Ligurian language was probably not used so far from the Mediterranean coast. Both Piemont and Ticino are territories where Lepontic was used. Independent of the Celtic4 or Ligurian origin of bola, the initial bcan reflect both IE *b- & *bh-, while the root-vowel o only IE *ŏ. 2.2.4. Duridanov (1969: 19) offered to connect the Dacian toponym Βάλαυσον (Procopius of Caesarea, De Aedificiis 4.4: a castle in the district of Skassatena) with Old Prussian Bolausen, etymologizing both on the basis of Lithuanian balà ‘swamp, marsh’ or bãlas ‘white’, and the Lithuanian derivational suffix -aus-, which forms e.g. the Lithuanian hydronyms such as Lẽtausas, Smukaũsis. Alternatively, Duridanov thought about a compound whose second component should be the root *h2es- (cf. Pokorny 1959: 90; Kümmel, LIV 275–276), which forms such hydronyms as the name of the Italian river Ausa (cf. Krahe 1964: 44) or *Hos-(t-) > Old Prussian austo ‘mouth’, Russian usťje ‘river mouth’, etc. (Pokorny 1959: 784–85). 2.2.5. One could add yet another unrecognized cognate, Slavic *ǫb(ъ)lъ ‘source, spring; well’.5 4 Kuryłowicz (1925: 208) tried to identify another Celtic candidate for relationship in some GalloRomance terms reflecting the hypothetical Gaulish starting-point *balko-, which is reconstructed on the basis of forms such as Old Provençal balc ‘humide’, Forezanish bauche ‘iris d’étang’, Dauphinish bauchi ‘foin de marais dont on fait litière au bétail’ (FEW I: 211). Wartburg (l.c.) further mentioned Romanian bâlc ‘swamp’ and Irish balc ‘getrockneter Lehm; Kruste, die sich infolge der Hitze auf der Oberfläche der Erde bildet’. The stem *balkois compatible with the forms analyzed in § 2.2. only if it is derived from *bHko- (cf. Zair 2012: 82–84). 5 In the Slavic languages there is a rich terminology applied to sources or wells: e.g. *jьzrojь, *jьztokъ, *jьzvorъ, *ključь, *koldězь, *krynica, *oko/*okъno, *ǫb(ъ)lъ, *pormy, *rod(ь)nikъ, *sopotъ, *stubьlь, *studьnьja, *tymę, *virъ, *v(ь)rělo/*v(ь)rǫtъkъ/*v(ь)rulja, *žerdlo (see Udolph 1979). VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 16 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXVII 2.2.5.1. In the appellative function it appears only in the South Slavic branch and on the northwest periphery of the West Slavic branch: Church Slavonic (of Russian redaction) оуболъ ‘φρέαρ, puteum’, i.e. ‘well’, recorded in Патерикъ синайский, v. 143 (Sreznevskij III: 1116): • жена нѣкто хо҃любива оуболъ рыяше и, глоубиноу прѣмногоу копавъши, не обрѣте воды (‘puteum fodit’). Възя ст҃го (икону) и низьвѣсивъше ѥго въ оуболъ, абиѥ скоро вода изиде въ кладѧзѣ. Although there are phonetic and morphological features of the East Slavic provenance in this text, the lexical Russisms are missing and so it is possible to accept the South Slavic origin of the word оуболъ (cf. Sławski 1971: 445). • Bulgarian vắbel (Pazardžik, Preslav, Northeast), vôbel (Rodopi), vắmbel (Solunsko) ‘source, spring, well’ (BER I: 201). • Macedonian jabel ‘hole filled with water, water hole, pool, source’, dial. jubel ‘pond’ (Stamatoski 1973: 78). • Serbian (Montenegro) ȕbao, gen. ȗbla ‘hole digged out in the earth, where the water is drawn; kind of well’ (Karadžić 1935: 788; Skok III: 533– 34); Serbian arch. ub(ь)lь ‘piscina receptaculum aquae’: право нис потокь подь оубьль (Daničić 1864: 343); Serbian (Kosovo) ubo, ubla ‘measure of capacity (for liquids)’ (Elezović 1935: 376). • Serbian > Albanian ubël, pl. ubla ‘well, shaft, hillside well’ (Popović 1960: 378; Sławski 1971: 448; Udolph 1979: 439; Orel 1998: 482 surprisingly connected the Albanian word with Gothic ubils ‘evil’). • Polabian *vbål ‘well’ is reconstructed on the basis of records such as Wumbâl & Wûmbâl ‘Brunnen’ (Hennig: Vocabularium Venedicum), Wungwool ‘Der Brunnen’ (Vocabularium et Phraseologicum Vandalicum), Wungwóol (Eccard), Wungwōl ‘Un puits’ (Pfeffinger) – see Polański 1994: 1040. 2.2.5.2. Taking in account the toponymic distribution of *ǫb(ъ)lъ and its derivatives, it is common in all Slavic branches: • Greece: NL Ἄμπλιανη, Ὀμπλοῦ Μονή, Βαμπέλι, Βόμπλο (Vasmer 1941: 24, 80, 136, 190). Albania: NL Vunbeli – near the city of Elbasan (Udolph 1979: 440). • Bulgaria: NF Văbela – tributary of the Luda Kamčija river by Asparuxovo in the south of the Varna region; NL Văbel – Nikopolsko by the Danube in the north of Bulgaria; Vbela – by Levočevo, the region of Smoljansko in the south of Bulgaria, etc. (BER I: 200). • Macedonia: NF Jábel; NL Jablinje & Jablišta; Vumbel (Udolph 1979: 440–441). Straipsniai / Articles 17 Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ at the Indo-European Backdrop • Montenegro: Uba, gen. Ubla – 2 hydronyms by Nikšić; NF Uba – by Boka Kotorska; Ublica – by Danilovgrad; Ubalac – by Nikšić; NL Ubalac – by Podgorica (Udolph 1979: 440–441). • Croatia: Ubla – hydronym on the island of Brač; bay Ubli with two sources on the island of Lastovo; NF Ombla – by Dubrovnik (via the Italian mediation). • Slovenia: NF Ubel (first 1260); NL (Malo, Veliko) Ubelsko, 1402 Vbelczk (Bezlaj II: 282). Slovakia: NL Ubľa, 1773, 1808 Ubly, Ubla – village by the city of Humenné (Majtán 1972: 433); NF Ubľa = Ublianka (tributary of the Uh river) – district of Snina, northeast Slovakia and the adjacent part of Ukraine (Udolph 1979: 441; SHU 577). • Czechia: NL Úblo, 1377 Ubla – village by the city of Krnov; Ublo (from the 15th cent.) – village by the city of Vizovice (Hosák, Šrámek 1980: 628). • Germany: NL Wamlitz, 1261 Wammelitz – district of Randow; NF Vamleitz – by the city of Gusborn; Fammels – by the city of Tollendorf; Fummels – by the city of Teichlosen – all in the neighborhood of Hannover (Udolph 1979: 441). • Poland: NL Wąblany, 1470–1480 Wamblany, 1508 Wablani – district of Opoczno in south-central Poland; FN Ubliczyn(y) – district of Hrubieszów in Southeast Poland; NL 1583 Ublišče – district of Równe in Southeast Poland till 1939, today Rivne in Western Ukraine (Udolph 1979: 441). • Belarus: NL Úbeľ – to the southeast of Minsk (Udolph 1979: 441). • Russia: Ublja – hydronym at the border of the former Voroněž and Kursk guberniyas (Udolph 1979: 441). 2.2.5.3. Up to the present time several attempts have been offered to etymologize *ǫb(ъ)lъ: 2.2.5.3.1. Brückner (1918: 185) separated the South Slavic forms whose initial he derived from *vъ- (like Miklosich 1886: 396), from Polabian wungwool ‘well’, which he connected with Czech úval ‘valley basin’ and Polish wąwal < *ǫvalъ. On the other hand, Skok (III: 534) tried to connect the South Slavic forms with Polish wąwal. 2.2.5.3.2. Mladenov (1941: 85) judged that *ǫb(ъ)lъ represented an adaptation of Middle Greek ἔμβολος, but it did not mean ‘aqueduct’, but ‘roofed street’ (cf. also Vasmer III: 169 who rejected this idea). 2.2.5.3.3. Georgiev et al. (BER I: 200) saw a connection with Vedic ámbha- & ámbu- ‘water’, abhrá- ‘rain cloud’; Young Avestan aβraid.; Armenian amb & amp ‘cloud’; Greek ὄμβρος ‘rain’; Latin imber ‘rain’, although the reflexes *bh & *b vacillate here. The same idea was developed by Sławski (1971: 449) who determined the derivational suffix *-ъlъ, which he also identified in Slavic *ǫgъlъ ‘corner, angle’ ~ Latin angulus id., or Slavic *pьkъlъ ‘resin’ ~ Latin pix, gen. picis id. (cf. Sławski 1974: 111). VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 18 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXVII 2.2.5.3.4. Rozwadowski (1948: 238) accepted the South Slavic – Polabian isogloss with the initial prefix *ǫ-. His idea was developed by Sławski (1971: 449) who thought about the compound *ǫ- + *bhelwhose Slavic continuants he identified e.g. in Polish dial. bełt ‘whirlpool’, Slovenian bôlt ‘gorge’ < *bъltъ, which may be supplemented by Ukrainian boč ‘deep place in the river hollowed out by water’ < *bъltjь (ESSJ 3: 120). 2.2.5.3.5. The present new etymology follows the ideas of Rozwadowski and Sławski but also modifies them. The Slavic prefix *ǫhad two functions: (1) ‘in, inside’; (2) ‘un-, -less, without’: (1a) Old Church Slavonic ǫdolъ m., ǫdolь f. ‘valley’, Polish wądoł, Russian udol id. vs. Old Church Slavonic dolь ‘valley’ (Janyšková, ESJS 3: 139; Dunkel, LIPP 2: 224); (1b) Slavic *ǫvozъ > Serbo-Croatian úvoz ‘part of courtyard, which is the entrance for wagons’, Czech úvoz ‘valley basin’, Polish wąwóz ‘deep valley, hollowed road’ vs. Slavic *vozъ ‘wagon’ (Boryś 2005: 683); (2a) Old Church Slavonic ǫrodъ ‘foolish person, dunce’, Russian uród ‘crippled person’ vs. Old Czech neródcě ‘unreasonable or foolish person’, Old Church Slavonic neroditi ‘to neglect, disregard, not care’ (Janyšková, ESJS 10: 618; Šarapatková, ESJS 13: 773; Dunkel, LIPP 2: 535); (2b) Old Church Slavonic ǫtьlъ ‘holey’ vs. tьlo ‘bottom’, hence ‘holey’ < ‘bottomless’ (Janyšková, ESJS 10: 619–620; Dunkel, LIPP 2: 535). It is difficult to interpret *ǫin Slavic *ǫ-b(ъ)lъ as ‘in, inside’, since there is no adequate function for *b(ъ)lъ.6 Taking into account the negative function of the prefix *ǫ-, the independent root *b(ъ)lshould be more or less antonymous to the meaning ‘source, spring’. A good candidate for a cognate to the Slavic form *b(ъ)lin the zero-grade of ablaut may be Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ in the full (o) grade of ablaut. With regard to the preceding arguments, it is possible to analyze Slavic *ǫ-b(ъ)lo as a late IE compound *-bo ‘unmuddy’, similar to Greek ἄθολος ‘not turbid, clear’ (Luc. Hist. Conscr. 51) from θολός ‘mud, dirt (esp. in water)’ (Arist. Fr. 311). 6 Perhaps with the exception of the root *bhleH- > Greek φλύω ‘to seethe, boil over’; Latin fluō, -ere ‘to flow, run (of waters), fluvius ‘river’ (Schirmer, Kümmel, LIV 90; de Vaan 2008: 228), although the internal structure of Slavic *b(ъ)lъ remains uncertain, perhaps *bhHu-? Straipsniai / Articles 19 Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ at the Indo-European Backdrop 3. SUMMARY OF THE PROBABLE INDO-EUROPEAN COGNATES Summing up, the closest cognates to Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ can be identified in West Germanic *pōla- ‘marsh, swamp’, with the apophonic variants *pali-, *pallo & *pulo, Lepontic or Cisalpine Gaulish (?) *bolā ‘marsh, swamp’, hypothetical Dacian *bal-, and Slavic *ǫb(ъ)lъ ‘source, spring; well’, interpretable as *-bo ‘unmuddy’. 4. DISCUSSION OF THE HYPOTHETICAL ETYMOLOGY BASED ON THE ROOT *guebh- ‘MARSH, SWAMP, MUD’ Abstracting from the doubtful existence of Indo-Aryan *bāla- ‘mud’, these related forms are known only in the European branches of Indo-European. This limited geographic distribution and the initial *bqualifies the etymon among candidates on its pre-Indo-European origin, especially from the point of view of the Leiden Indo-European School (see explicitly. Boutkan, Siebinga 2005: 309; Kroonen 2013: 398). Paradoxically, other Leiden representatives offered a solution, which eliminates the argument of the initial *b-. In the dialogue with the present author Alexander Lubotsky (see also Pronk 2013: 4, referring to Lubotsky’s lecture on the same topic from June 18, 2012, Münster) mentioned another IE etymon with the initial *brepresented by Vedic bálan. ‘strength’, bálīyān ‘stronger’, báliṣṭha- ‘strongest’; Greek βελτίων & βέλτερον ‘better’, βέλτιστος & βέλτατος ‘best’; Latin dē-bilis ‘weak; crippled’; Old Church Slavonic bol’ii ‘bigger’, bolje ‘more’ (Brugmann 1897: 507, § 553; Pokorny 1959: 96; Šaur & Havlová, ESJS 2: 72). Lubotsky inferred the development of the initial *bin the consonant cluster *dbh- > *db- > *b-, while both consonants were preserved in the forms of the full ablaut grade Old Church Slavonic debelьstvo ‘thickness, fatness; roughness’, udobelěti & udebelěti ‘to become fatty’; Latvian dàbls, dabļš ‘rank, abundant’, besides Old Prussian debīkan ‘big’ or Hittite dapiš ‘every, all; many’ without the l-extension (ESSJ 4: 201–203; Skalka, ESJS 2: 125 mentioned the Slavic derivational suffix *-elъ, forming also other adjectives, e.g. *tęželъ, *veselъ; Pronk 2013: 4). The reconstruction of the aspirated *bh is confirmed by the fact that before this labial there is no lengthened vowel in Balto-Slavic, while *b would imply the lengthening in agreement with Lex Winter & Kortlandt. A good candidate for the analogical solution is the IE root *guebh-: VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 26 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXVII Kroonen Guus 2013: Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden, Boston: Brill. 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Vasmer Max 1941: Die Slaven in Griechenland, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Vasmer Max 1953–1958: Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 1–3, Heidelberg: Winter. Zair Nicholas 2012: The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Celtic, Leiden, Boston: Brill. Zeuss Johann Kaspar 1837: Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme, München: Lentner. Acknowledgement: The author would like to express his gratitude to Harald Bichlmeier for his healthy criticism: he was right in all points. His thanks also belong to John D. Bengtson for his correction of English. Straipsniai / Articles 29 Baltic *balā ‘mud, bog, marsh’ at the Indo-European Backdrop Baltų *balā ‘purvas, liūnas, pelkė’ indoeuropiečių kalbų kontekste SANTRAUKA Straipsnyje aptariami artimiausi giminiški žodžiai baltiškam terminui *balā ‘purvas, liūnas, pelkė’, kurie yra traktuojami kaip sinonimai vakarų germanų *pōlair *pali-, islandų pula, keltų *bolā ir dakų kalbos toponimui Βάλαυσον. Šios formos jau anksčiau buvo laikomos baltiškajai formai giminiškais žodžiais. Straipsnyje įvedamas ir slaviškas terminas *ǫb(ъ)lъ ‘versmė, šaltinis; šulinys’, kuris čia analizuojamas kaip *-bo ‘nepurvinas’ = ‘skaidrus (vanduo)’. Germaniška žodžio pradžios *pnurodo retą ide. *b-. Straipsnyje analizuojama, ar šis etimonas galėtų būti nulinio balsių kaitos laipsnio šaknį *guebh- ‘liūnas, pelkė’ praplečiančio elemento -lpavyzdys, remiantis Aleksandro Lubotskio idėja apie progresyvinę asimiliaciją žodžio pradžios junginyje, šiuo atveju *gubh- > *gub- > *b-. Atsakymas yra „taip“, tačiau sąlygos yra tokios sudėtingos, kad tradicinė rekonstrukcija su žodžio pradžios *bir pailgėjusiu vddhi dariniu germanų kalbose atrodo priimtinesnė versija. Įteikta 2022 m. birželio 27 d. VÁCLAV BLAŽEK Department of Linguistics and Baltic Studies Masaryk University Nováka 1, CZ-60200 Brno blaze[email protected]