The Origin of Old Prussian “dūrai”

DANIEL PETIT École Normale Supérieure, Paris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8432-5600 Fields of research: Baltic studies, Indo-European studies. DOI: doi.org/10.35321/all85-01 THE ORIGIN OF OLD PRUSSIAN DŪRAI Senosios prūsų kalbos žodžio dūrai kilmė Schlage nicht die Augen nieder! (Simon Dach) ANNOTATION The Old Prussian adjective dūrai ‘shy’ is traditionally connected with the Slavic family of *durb (Russian дýрь ‘stupidity’) and *durbъ (Russian дурной, Polish durny ‘silly, stupid’). But the formal and semantic relationships between these two lexical families still remain obscure. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the origin of Old Prussian dūrai and particularly to motivate its derivation from a root ‘to sting, to prick’ reflected by Lithuanian dùrti. It can be suggested that this derivation is based on a phraseological expression nudùrti akìs į žẽmę ‘to look down to the ground’ used as a sign of psychological difficulty. KEYWORDS: Old Prussian, Lithuanian, Slavic, Indo-European, etymology, phraseology. ANOTACIJA Senosios prūsų kalbos būdvardis dūrai ‘drovus’ tradiciškai siejamas su slavų žodžių *durb (rus. дýрь ‘kvailumas’) ir *durbъ (rus. дурной, lenk. durny ‘kvailas’) šeima. Tačiau formalūs ir semantiniai santykiai tarp šių dviejų leksinių šeimų vis dar lieka neaiškūs. Šio straipsnio tikslas yra išsiaiškinti senosios prūsų kalbos žodžio dūrai kilmę ir ypač motyvuoti jo derivaciją iš šaknies, kurią atspindi liet. dùrti ‘įgelti, (į)d urti’. Galima teigti, kad šis vedinys yra pagrįstas frazeologine išraiška nudùrti akìs į žẽmę ‘žiūrėti žemyn’, vartojama psichologiniam sunkumui žymėti. ESMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: Senoji prūsų kalba, lietuvių kalba, slavų kalbos, indoeuropiečių prokalbė, etimologija, frazeologija. Straipsniai / Articles 11 DANIEL PETIT 1. OLD PRUSSIAN DŪRAI In the Old Prussian Enchiridion (1561), we find an isolated instance of an adjective dūrai corresponding to German schew ‘shy’ (III 9319, Modern German scheu): (1) Enchiridion III 9319 (German) Ir Vater reitzt ewre Kinder nicht zu zorn / das sie nicht schew werden, Sondern ziehet sie auff in der zucht und vermanunge zu dem HERRN. (Old Prussian) Jous Tawai ni teṅeit iōv̄ans malnikans prei nerten / kai śtai ni dūrai pośtānai / Schłait poauginneiti stans / en Kanxtijſku preiſtan Riki̇jan. ‘And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, lest they become discouraged, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.’ The text is obviously based on Ephesians 6, 4, but the subordinate clause is a secondary addition, adopted from the parallel passage of Colossians 3, 21. The Old Prussian adjective dūrai renders German schew ‘shy, fearful’. A few lines earlier (III 9316), there is another Old Prussian adjective būrai translating German ſchuchter ‘shy, timid’ in reference to women: (2) Enchiridion III 9316 (German) So ir wolthut / vnd nicht ſo ſchuchter ſeyt. (Old Prussian) ikai jous labban ſeggēti / bhe ni tijt būrai afti. ‘if you do well and are not frightened.’ It is commonly recognized that the Old Prussian būrai is a scribal error for *dūrai. The text is directly based on 1Peter 3, 62. The Old Prussian form dūrai can be understood either as a nominative plural (masculine in III 9319, mistakenly in III 9316) or alternatively as an adverb in -ai, which is sometimes used to render uninflected predicative adjectives of the German original. It must be based on an adjective *dūras. A Lithuanian equivalent dūras was mentioned by Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) with the meaning tylus, nekalbus ‘silent, taciturn’ (LKŽ II 897). The LKŽ also mentions an abstract noun dūras glossed kvailumas ‘stupidity’ (LKŽ II 897, from the dialects of Nočia and Valkininkai) and a few verbs like dūrėti glossed laukti, ¹ German auff das sie nicht schew werden (Luther 1545), Latin ut non pusillo animo fiant (Vulgata). ² German so ir wolthut vnd nicht so schüchter seid (Luther 1545), Latin benefacientes et non timentes ullam perturbationem (Vulgata). 12 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai tūnoti tylint, nekalbant ‘to wait, to remain silent, without a word’ (LKŽ II 899, from J̨onas Jablonskis), dūrinti glossed kvailinti, mulkinti ‘to make stupid’ (LKŽ II 901, from the dialects of Nemunaitis and Leipalingis) and especially dūroti glossed buti paniurusi am, akis į žemę įbedus, niūreti, niūroti ‘to be discouraged, to look down to the ground, to get depressed’ (LKŽ II 905, from Antanas Juška 1897–1922). Other similar verbs are mentioned by Fraenkel (LEW I 113) from different lexicographical or dialectological sources. 2. THE SLAVIC LOANWORD Since the 19ᵗʰ century, the adjective *dūras, common to Old Prussian and Lithuanian, but absent from Latvian, was compared with Slavic *durb (Russian дуръ ‘stupidity’) and its derivative, the adjective *durьnъ (Russian дурной, Polish durny ‘silly, stupid’). To this are traditionally added various forms from other Indo-European languages such as Greek θοῦρος ‘rushing, impetuous, furious’³. However, two problems have often been left aside: (1°) the distinction between genuine Baltic words and Slavic loanwords; (2°) the reconstruction of the verbal basis and the semantics of its derivatives. To begin with, it is well known that the Slavic adjective *durьnъ ‘silly, stupid, furious’, or one of its historical descendants, was borrowed in Baltic. The adjective durnas ‘silly, stupid’ is already found in Old Lithuanian and unanimously recognized to be a loanword from Belarussian дурны́ or from Polish durny⁴. A variant is the Old Lithuanian noun dūrnius ‘silly, stupid man’, adapted from Belarussian дурáнь or Polish dureń. Both forms are mentioned by Konstantynas Sirvydas in the first Lithuanian dictionary (DTL³ ca 1643): durnas ‘silly, stupid’ (DTL³ 69 = Polish głupi, Latin stultus, etc.) and durnius ‘silly, stupid man’ (DTL³ 69 = Polish głupiec, Latin stipes, etc.). There is also a verb durnavóti ‘to be furious, to rage’ attested since Jonas Bretkūnas (16ᵗʰ century) and borrowed from Belarussian дурнава́ць. Already in the 16ᵗʰ century, Martynas Mažvydas (1570: 468₁₈) had a derivative durnif­te ‘silliness, stupidity’ (= German Torheit). In more recent times, Friedrich Kurschat (1883: 99) has the adjective dūrnas ‘furious, mad’ (= German rasend, toll), the abstract noun durnýstė ‘fury, madness’ (= German Tollheit, Verrücktheit) and the verb durnójų ‘to rage’ (= German rasen, toben). ³ Cf. Berneker (1896: 288); Trautmann (1910: 325). See also Urbutis (2000). ⁴ Cf. Brückner (1877: 82); Skardžius (1931: 125). See also LEW I 113; SEJL 136. Straipsniai / Articles 13 DANIEL PETIT Other forms of the same family are attested in Slavic, especially in Russian and Polish, which chiefly concern us here. In Polish, there are not only the adjective durny ‘silly, stupid’, the noun dureń ‘silly, stupid man’ and the verb durnieć ‘to be silly, to act stupidly’, but also, without the nasal suffix, the verb durzyć ‘to mislead, to deceive’, durzyć się ‘to fall in love’. In Russian, we find дурной ‘silly, stupid’ and verbs like дурнéть, дурнúть ‘to act stupidly’, but also, without nasal, the noun дурак ‘silly, stupid man’. The existence of a layer of obvious loanwords does not imply that every Baltic form should be considered to be borrowed from Slavic. On the contrary, one may assume that at least some forms might be inherited in Baltic. This is suggested by the fact that some of these forms do not refer to ‘silliness, stupidity’ in their core meaning, but convey a notion of ‘discouragement, silence, sadness’, which does not necessarily derive from this meaning. In Latvian, the adjective dur̃ns is attested, as far as I know, since the 17th century, but its meaning may vary considerably. In the Manuale Lettico-Germanicum (ca 1690), we find the adjective Durnis ‘silly, stupid’ (MLG 114 = German Thoricht, unweise) and the abstract noun Durniba ‘silliness, stupidity’ (MLG 114 = German Unweisheit, Aberwitz, Unsinnigkeit, cf. also 501), with a meaning that clearly reveals the Slavic provenance. The Lettisches Lexicon (1758: 97) by Gotthard Stender gives in square brackets the adjective durns ‘silly, stupid’ (= German doll, dwatsch Lit.) with a similar meaning, but presented as derived from a Lithuanian source⁵. In the Lettisches Wörterbuch by Carl Christian Ullmann (1872), beside the recent Russian loanword duraks ‘silly, stupid’ (1872: 55 = German ein Narr), the adjective durns is rendered in German both as dwatsch ‘silly, stupid’ and as benommen ‘confused, embarrassed’. The examples provided by Ullmann illustrate both meanings: gāl̄wa tāhda durna ‘my head is so stupid’, durns firgs ‘a rabid horse’ (= German ein Pferd, das den Koller hat), durna aita ‘a drowsy man’ (= German ein Schlafskopf). In addition, Ullmann (1872: 55) presents a verb durneht ‘to walk asleep, to stay seated, to lounge, to vegetate’ (= German schläfrig eingeheren, sō sitzen, faulenzen, vegetiren) and an abstract noun durnums ‘torpor, numbness, stupidity, vertigo of sheep’ (= German Benommenheit, Dwatfscheit, Drehkrankheit der Schafe). The ME (1923: I 519) has dũrns ‘sad, embarrassed, silly, isolated’ (= German traurig, benommen, dwatsch, wüst) and the verb durnẽt ‘to go slowly, to be lazy, quiet, to keep silent, to be unfriendly, to be sick’ (= German trödeln, faulenzen, ruhig sein, schweigen, unfreundlich sein, sich krank zeigen). If one summarizes, the Baltic forms are associated with two different meanings, ‘silly, stupid’ on the one hand, ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’ on the ⁵ Cf. also Stender (1789: 55). 14 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai other hand. It is likely that the former meaning derives from a Slavic source: this is particularly evident for Baltic *durnas ‘silly, stupid’, directly borrowed from Belarusian дурны or Polish durny. Once established in the Baltic languages, the Slavic loanword could develop its own family, without direct Slavic model, e.g. Lith. durnystė, Latv. durnība ‘silliness, stupidity’ with Baltic suffixes. The other meanings, however, are more difficult to account for, since they do not reflect semantic features already present in Slavic. Either do they represent an internal development that took place within the Baltic languages on the basis of the Slavic loanword or they suppose another source. In the former case, one would have to assume an evolution ‘silly, stupid’ > ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’, which does not sound impossible in itself, but would remain to be substantiated from a semantic point of view. It is probably preferable to think that there was in the Baltic languages a genuine lexical family *dur–/*dūr– ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’, independent of the Slavic loanword, and this brings us back to the comparison with Old Prussian dūrai ‘shy’. 3. THE VERBAL BASIS On the basis of the foregoing, one may assume in Baltic the blending of two lexical layers, a Baltic family ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’ and a Slavic loanword ‘silly, stupid’. The contamination between these two layers could take place in both directions. The Baltic family could adopt the meaning of the Slavic loanword (hence Lithuanian dūras ‘stupidity’, dūrinti ‘to make stupid’, formally deriving from the Baltic family, but semantically connected to the meaning ‘silly, stupid’) and, on the other hand, the Slavic loanword in Baltic could locally adopt the genuine meaning of the Baltic family (hence Latvian dūŗns not only ‘silly, stupid’, but also ‘sad, embarrassed, isolated’). If this analysis is correct, the Old Prussian adjective *dūras ‘shy’, attested through the form dūrai in the Enchiridion (1561), is not isolated, but finds its place within a coherent lexical family, whose meaning was only locally disturbed by the pressure of the Slavic loanword. The question that remains open is the origin of this Baltic family. Judging from the comparison between Old Prussian dūrai and Lithuanian dūras, the genuine Baltic form seems to be an adjective *dūras. There is no reason to think that the Baltic languages have inherited an adjective corresponding to the Slavic form *дурнъ. Wherever we find it in Baltic, it can be suspected to be a Slavic loanword, even if it was locally hybridized with the Baltic family. It follows that the only form that can be ascribed to Common Baltic is *dūras. All other forms are either derived from this basic form or borrowed from Slavic. Straipsniai / Articles 15 DANIEL PETIT As far as we can judge, the meaning of *dūras was ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’, describing a state of mind that combines psychological difficulty and social withdrawal. The meaning of Old Prussian dūrai ‘shy’ fits well with this semantic reconstruction. The origin of the Baltic adjective *dūras is unclear, but two assumptions have been routinely repeated since the 19th century. First, it is traditionally assumed that Baltic *dūras belongs to the same family as Slavic *durьnъ. This assumption requires a detailed discussion, which has not been conducted so far. The second assumption is that all forms derive from a verb *dūr-ti- ‘to sting, to prick, to stick, to stab’ reflected by Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian durt ‘to sting’ and indirectly by Russian дырá ‘hole’⁶. These two assumptions are repeated by Toporov (PJ I 391–392) and Mažiulis (PKEŽ 1988: I 239–240; 2013: 149), but it must be emphasized that they entail two complementary requirements: (a) we have to bridge the semantic divergence between Baltic *dūras and Slavic *durьnъ; (b) we have to explain how both forms can go back to a verb meaning ‘to sting, to prick’ both formally and semantically. At this stage, the psychological meaning of this root seems to follow a clear-cut distribution: ‘silly, stupid’ in Slavic vs. ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, shy’ in Baltic. But there is a Slavic form that could present a meaning very close to the Baltic family. At the end of the 19th century, the Slovenian dictionary published by Maks Pleteršnik (Slovensko-Nemški Slovar 1894: 195) mentions an adjective dūr ‘shy, wild’ (= German scheu, wild, menschen scheu), whose meaning is identical to that of the Old Prussian adjective dūrai. More remote, but certainly related, is the Slovenian verb duriti ‘to make hateful, to fill with disgust; to despise’ (= German verhasst, ekelhaft machen, verabscheuen, verachten), which is also found in Serbo-Croatian dúriti se ‘to be angry, to fill with disgust’. It has also been noted that some Russian dialects have preserved the same word дýр ‘shy, fearful’⁸. The Slavic root *durmeans ‘shy’, hence ‘to be disgusted, to despise’ (probably calqued from German scheu → verabscheuen). It is strongly reminiscent of the meaning observed in Baltic. However, the forms themselves cannot be equated directly, since Slavic *dursupposes PIE *d⁽ʰ⁾ourwhereas Baltic *dūrcan only go back to PIE *d⁽ʰ⁾uHr-, *d⁽ʰ⁾urH-, or *d⁽ʰ⁾r̥H-. ⁶ Cf. EDSIL 132. But EDSIL 126 suggests that Slavic *durb and Old Prussian dūrai might be analyzed as *dʰou̯-rofrom a root *dʰeu̯- ‘to run’ (cf. Sanskrit dhávati, Greek θέω ‘to run’), which is semantically unconvincing. ⁷ Cf. EDSIL 132. According to Pleteršnik (and Cigale 1860: 1355), the source of the Slovenian adjective seems to have been the writings of the Slovenian bishop Matevž Ravnikar (1776–1845). ⁸ See Urbutis (2000: 229). 16 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai We are thus facing a greater challenge than expected. It seems to be the case that Slavic possessed two main representatives of a stem *dur-, an adjective *durb ‘shy’ (Slovenian dūr, Russian dial. дур) and a noun *durb ‘silliness, stupidity’ (Russian дурь), the latter being the source of the adjective *durьnь ‘silly, stupid’ (Russian дурной, Polish durny). The semantic complexity of the stem *durdoes not constitute a demarcation line between Baltic and Slavic, it is already internal in Slavic. In addition, we must note that the formal equation is not perfect, since the Slavic forms suppose *d(h)our-, whereas the Baltic forms are based on a zero grade, whatever its precise reconstruction might be. The verbal basis of these forms has traditionally been identified as the verb *dūr-ti- ‘to sting, to prick’, which is preserved only in Baltic (Lithuanian dūrti, Latvian durt ‘to sting’), but the semantic link between this notion and the two main meanings of its putative derivatives, ‘shy’ and ‘silly, stupid’, is not altogether clear. Outside of Baltic, the primary meaning ‘to sting, to prick’ survives in Russian дырá ‘hole’, but there is another word for ‘hole’ in Slavic with a slightly different form (Belarussian дзю́ра, Ukrainian дю́па, Czech dǔra, Polish dziura ‘hole’). Taken at face value, it seems that Slavic had two different stems *dyrin Russian дырá (< PIE *d(h)ūr-), *d’urin Polish dziura, etc. (< PIE *d(h)eur-); it is difficult to go beyond this basic statement and to determine the original distribution between these two ablaut grades. The formal problem is compounded by the widespread idea that most of the forms cited above with the meaning ‘to sting, to prick’ are cognate with the well-known PIE root *der- ‘to tear, to flay’ (Greek δέρω ‘to flay’, Gothic dis-tairan ‘to tear apart’), which survives in Old Church Slavic дърати, Russian драть and Lithuanian dir̃ti (pres. derù) or dirti (pres. diriù), Latvian dirât⁹. This view is probably ill-founded, but, as it plays a crucial role in the etymology of Lith. dūrti, it has to be seriously assessed. Traditionally, Lithuanian dĩrti (pres. derù), dirti (pres. diriù), and Old Church Slavic дерѫ, дърати ‘to tear’ are derived from PIE *der-, and the verb Lithuanian dūrti, Latvian durt ‘to sting’ is traced back to an alternative zero grade of the same root¹⁰. This analysis is problematic. The acute tone of the Baltic forms (Lithuanian dūrti, Latvian durt) points to a set root, which is at odds with the derivation from PIE *der-. At PIE level, the root *deris clearly anit̑ (cf. Greek νεόδαρτος ‘newly stripped off’, Sanskrit dṛtá- < PIE *dr̥-to-); the set variant *derHsometimes mentioned in the literature (cf. SEJL 115) is certainly an ⁹ See e.g. BSW 52; SEJL 136. See also Urbutis (2000: 229). ¹⁰ See e.g. Jēgers (1969); Smoczyński (2001: 148); Karulis (2001: 243). An agnostic position is presented in EDBIL 147. It is not necessary to reopen the debate about the distribution of ir and ur as diverging reflexes of PIE zero grades in Balto-Slavic. Straipsniai / Articles 17 DANIEL PETIT illusion. To begin with, the acute tone of the Lithuanian infinitive dìrti (pres. dirìti) is secondary in comparison with the circumflex tone of dìrti (pres. derù) and cannot be used prima facie as piece of evidence of a PIE set root. Similarly, the nasal infix form in Sanskrit dṛṇāti ‘he tears’, Young Avestan dərənąnti ‘they tear’ does not necessarily suppose PIE *dᵣ-né/n-H-, but can reflect the secondary expansion of the nā-formation. The evidence for PIE *derHis thus based on shaky ground and turns out to be completely unreliable. On the other hand, the set character of Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian durt ‘to sting’ can hardly be explained as secondary: it is firmly established in all forms of the lexical family and is supported by various laryngeal-induced phenomena such as the acute tone of the vowel (Lithuanian dūr-, Latvian dūr- + consonant) or its compensatory lengthening (Lithuanian dūror with metatony dū́r-, Latvian dūr- + vowel). The constant set character of the family rules out the possibility that it derives from PIE *der- ‘to tear, to flay’. A more serious option, proposed by the AĹEW (I 249–250), is to derive Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian durt ‘to sting’ from a different PIE root *dʰuerh₁- ‘to damage, to hurt’ (cf. Hittite duu̯arnizi ‘he breaks’, Sanskrit dhū́rvati ‘he damages’)¹¹. This analysis has the advantage of solving the problem of the set character of the root. Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian durt could routinely be traced back to the zero grade *dʰurh₁-. In addition, this analysis would make it possible to save the ancient comparison between Latvian dūre ‘fist’ and Celtic *durno- ‘fist, hand’ (Old Irish dorn, Middle Welsh dw̄rn, Breton dourn ‘fist’), which shows the antiquity of the vowel u; the semantic evolution (‘to sting’ → ‘fist’) is trivial and paralleled by the case of Latin pungō ‘to sting’ → pugnus ‘fist’. A variant *dʰeurh₁-, probably a secondary full grade to *dʰurh₁-, would nicely explain some of the Slavic forms (cf. Belarussian дзю́ра, Ukrainian дю́бра, Czech džura, Polish dziura ‘hole’), and the secondary ablaut grade *dʰourh₁could be directly reflected by Slavic *durb ‘silliness, stupidity’. The basic form would be the zero grade *dʰurh₁-, still preserved in the Baltic verb (Lithuanian dùrti) and extended to its derivative (Lithuanian dūras, Old Prussian dūrai). From a formal point of view, the relationship between a verb *dūr-tiand an adjective *dūr-as in Baltic is certainly secondary, reproducing the ablaut grade of the verb in the adjective without any change, whereas that between *dūr-tiand *douros in Slavic follows an ablaut pattern that appears to be more widespread, cf. the model of Balto-Slavic *roudos ‘red’ (Lithuanian raũdas, Russian рудой < ¹¹ Cf. IEW 277; LIV 1140; EDHIL 905–908. Sanskrit dhū́rvati ‘he damages’ belongs to a set root (cf. the verbal adjective dhūrtá-), but the thematic variant dhv̥́vati (< PIE *dʰuéhr̥₁-e/o-) was analyzed as aniṭ, which gave rise to a secondary verbal adjective dhv̥rtá- (from *dhurtá-). A different reconstruction is proposed in the LIV 1140. 18 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai PIE *h₁roudʰ-o- = Gothic raups, Rural Latin rūfus) vs. *rudē-ti- ‘to be red’ (Lithuanian rudėti, Old Church Slavic рѫдѣти < PIE *h₁rudʰ-eh₁- = Latin rubēre): the pressure of this type is responsible for the creation of a secondary o-grade *douros (as if PIE *dʰourh₁-o-) instead of PIE *dʰuorh₁-o- (PIE root *dʰuerh₁-). The Slavic abstract noun *durb reflected by Russian дурь ‘stupidity’ and the derivative *durьnъ ‘stupid, silly’ is certainly a secondary formation (as if from PIE *dʰourh₁-i-), parallel to instances such as Old Church Slavic зълъ ‘the evil’ (= Greek κακία) from зълъ ‘bad, evil’ (= Greek πονηρός, κακός). The problem is with the semantics of the lexical family. The derivation of the meanings ‘silly, stupid’ and ‘shy, discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’ from the basic meaning ‘to sting’ remains unmotivated at this point. For some of these forms, other comparisons were made since the 19th century, but what they have in common is a lot of imprecisions in their phonological or morphological formulation. To begin with, the Greek adjective θοῦρος ‘rushing, impetuous, furious’ is often compared with Old Prussian dūrai ‘shy’ and Russian дурной ‘silly, stupid’, but it should probably be left aside, since it is not likely to reflect a PIE form *dʰourh₁-o-, but more reasonably belongs to the verb θρώσκω, aorist ἔθορον ‘to spring, to leap up’, which supposes a different root *dʰerh₃-: we have a zero grade *dʰrh₃in θρώσκω, ἔθορον and an o-grade *dʰor(h₃)-uo- (with Saussure’s effect) in *θορο-ϝος > θοῦρος (with the Ionic Greek compensatory lengthening resulting from the fall of the digamma). We are thus left with the Balto-Slavic data. As already said, it is likely that, even if they are separated by their ablaut, Slavic *dur- (from *dʰourh₁-) and Baltic *dūr- (from *dʰurh₁-) belong to the same family. We have seen that the semantic difference is not coextensive with the formal difference, since Slovenian dȗr belongs to Slavic *dur-, but has the meaning ‘shy’, which seems to connect it directly with Baltic *dūras. The meaning of Old Prussian dūrai and Lithuanian dūras ‘shy, silent, taciturn’ is likely to derive from a verb *dūr- ‘to remain silent, to be embarrassed, to look down to the ground’. This is suggested by the various verbs associated with this meaning, such as Lith. durėti ‘to wait, to remain silent, without a word’ and dūroti ‘to be discouraged, to look down to the ground, to get depressed’. In Latvian, this meaning spread to the Slavic loanword and its family, as shown by Latvian dur̃ns ‘sad, embarrassed, silly, isolated’, durnēt ‘to go slowly, to be lazy, quiet, to keep silent, to be unfriendly, to be sick’. The source of this meaning was mentioned in passing by Fraenkel (LEW I 90 and 113), but was clearly seen by Mažiulis (PKEŽ 1988: I 239; 2013: 149). There is in Lithuanian a phrase nudūrti akis į žemę ‘to look down to the ground’ (literally: ‘to stick down one’s eyes to the ground’): Straipsniai / Articles 19 DANIEL PETIT (3) Lithuanian dialect of Darbėnai (LKŽ II 913) Nusigandęs nudūrė akis į žemę ir tylėjo. ‘Scared, he kept (stuck) his eyes down to the ground and kept silent.’ In the Lithuanian dialect of Kretinga, the phraseological expression akis nudūrties is attested with the meaning ‘to look down to the ground’; (4) Lithuanian dialect of Kretinga (Aleksandravičius 2007: 86) Àkis į žẽmę nudūręs. ‘He kept (stuck) his eyes down to the ground.’ The LKŽ II 912 mentions a variant idūrti akįs į žẽmę, literally ‘to look toward (into) the ground’, with an example by Žemaitė (19th century): (5) Žemaitė (LKŽ II 912) Ėjo akis įdūręs į žemę. ‘He went keeping (sticking) his eyes down toward the ground.’ Significantly enough, the verb dūrōti ‘to be discouraged, to look down to the ground, to get depressed’ (LKŽ II 905: būti paniurusiam, akis į žemę įbedus, niūreti, niūroti) is illustrated in the LKŽ by an example from Jonas Jablonskis which clearly reflects the same context: (6) Jonas Jablonskis (LKŽ II 905) Dūronas žemyn akis įdūręs, pasikvempęs dūro, t. y. mislyja, rymo. ‘The gloomy man, keeping his eyes to the ground, thinking over, gets depressed, i.e. remains pensive, worried.’ In Jacob Brodowski’s dictionary (18th century, Drotvinas 2009: 948₃₀–₃₆), the Latin phrase oculos demittere and its German equivalent die Augen niederschlagen are rendered in Lithuanian by Akkis nulejti, Akkis žemyn nukreipti, or Nunerti Akkis. The same expression is preserved in Latvian: (7) Gustav Brasche (1875: 544) niederfschlagen: die Augen –, azis nodurt ‘to keep the eyes down’ Looking down to the ground as a sign of awkwardness or discouragement is a very widespread cultural attitude, as shown, e.g., by the similar use of κύπτω in Ancient Greek, demittere oculos in Latin, die Augen niederschlagen in German, spuśćić oczy in Polish, опустить глаза or потупиться in Russian or spuštiti oči in Serbo-Croatian, all meaning ‘to look down’ and used in the same contexts of psychological distress (expressing shyness, embarrassment, sadness, despondency, discouragement, etc.). This image is not proper to Balto-Slavic, 20 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai but the semantic derivation [to sting] > [to lock one’s gaze upon] is more specific. It can be assumed that the phraseological expression reflected by Lith. nu-/i-dūrti akis į žemę ‘to look down to the ground’ constituted the basis for the Baltic adjective *duras ‘sad, embarrassed, silent’. It remains to explain the meaning of the Slavic forms ‘silly, stupid’. Starting from a verbal root *dʰurh₁- ‘to sting’, the meaning ‘discouraged, embarrassed, silent, sad’ can easily be accounted for, as already said, via the phraseological expression mentioned above (cf. Lith. nudūrti akis į žemę ‘to look down to the ground’), and it is likely that this phraseological expression is also the semantic source of the Slavic forms with the meaning ‘silly, stupid’. Staring blankly at the ground with an empty look can equally be interpreted as a sign of stupidity or even foolishness; the gestural depiction of a distressed spirit staring to nowhere provides the link between a feeling of psychological depression and an expression of stupidity. 4. CONCLUSION Far from being an isolated word, the Old Prussian adjective dūrai ‘shy’ belongs to a wide lexical family attested both in Baltic and in Slavic. It is based on the concrete image of a man looking down to the ground — an attitude that can be interpreted either as a sign of psychological distress or as a sign of stupidity. No matter to what extent this analysis can be deemed valid in every detail, it can give us a telling illustration of the fact that phraseology should always be taken into serious consideration when seeking for the etymology of lexical families, because semantic change often boils down to the crystallization of phraseological micro-contexts. LITERATURE Aleksandravičius Juozas 2011: Kretingos tarmės žodynas, sud. D. Mikulėnienė, D. Vaišnienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. ALEW I – Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 1–3, eds. by W. Hock, E. J. Bukevičiūtė, Ch. Schiller, R. Fecht, A. H. Feulner, E. Hill, D. S. Wodtko, Hamburg: Baar Verlag, 2015. Straipsniai / Articles 21 DANIEL PETIT Berneker Erik 1896: Die preussische Sprache, Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner. Brasche Gustav 1875: Kurzgefaßtes lettisch-deutsch und deutsch-lettisches Lexikon, Libau: Zimmermann. Brückner Aleksander 1877: Die slavischen Lehnwörter im Litauischen, Weimar: H. Böhlau. BSW – Trautmann Reinhold 1923: Baltisch-Slavisches Wörterbuch, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Cigale Matej 1860: Deutsch-s lovenisches Wörterbuch, Ljubljana: J. Blasnik. Drotvinas Vincentas (ed.) 2009: Jokūbas Brodovskis, Lexicon Germanico-Lithvanicum et Lithvanico-Germanicum: Rankraštinis XVIII amžiaus žodynas. Dokumentinis leidimas su faksimile, perrašu ir žodžių registru 1, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. DTL – Sirvydas Konstantinas ³1643: Pirmasis lietuvių kalbos žodynas: Dictionarium trium linguarum, red. J. Kruopas, Vilnius: Lietuvos TSR Mokslų akademijos Cetrinė biblioteka, 1979. EDBIL – Derksen Rick 2015: Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden, Boston: Brill. EDHIL – Kloekhorst Alwin 2008: Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, Leiden, Boston: Brill. EDSIL – Derksen Rick 2008: Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden, Boston: Brill. IEW – Pokorny Julius 1959: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, München: A. Francke. Jēgers Benjamiņš 1969: Einige baltische und slavische Verwandte der Sippe von lit. dir̃ti. – Studi Baltici 10, 63–112. Karulis Konstantinas ¹1992, ²2001: Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca, Rīga: Avots. Kurschat Friedrich 1883: Littauisch–Deutsches Wörterbuch, Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des. Waisenhauses. LEW I – Fraenkel Ernst 1955–1962: Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 1–2, Heidelberg, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 22 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai LIV – Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, ed. by H. Rix, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1998, -2001. LKŽ 2II – Lietuvių kalbos žodynas 2, 2-asis leidimas, atsak. red. J. Kruopas, Vilnius: Mintis, 1969. ME I – Mühlenbach Karl, Endzelīn Jānis 1923–1932: Lettisch-deutsches Wörterbuch 1–4, Rīga: Izglītības ministrija. MLG – Manuale Lettico-Germanicum 1–2, ed. by T. G. Fennell, Rīga: Latvijas Akadēmiskā bibliotēka. MŽ – Mažvydas Martynas 1547–1570: Gesmes Chrikščoniskas. – Martyno Mažvydo raštai ir jų šaltiniai, ed. by G. Michelini, Vilnius: Mokslas. PJ I – Toporov Vladimir N. 1975–1990: Топоров Владимир Н. Русский язык. Словарь 1–5, Москва: Издательство «Наука». PKEŽ – Mažiulis Vytautas 1988–1997, 2013: Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas 1–4, 1-asis leidimas, Vilnius: Mokslas (t. 1, 1988), Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla (t. 2–3, 1993–1996), Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas (t. 4, 1997); 2-asis leidimas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras. Pleteršnik Maks 1894: Slovensko-Nemški Slovar 1, Ljubljana: Knezoškofijstvo. SEJL – Smoczyński Wojciech 2007: Słownik etymologiczny języka litewskiego, Vilnius: Vilniaus Universitetas. Skardžius Pranas 1931: Die slavischen Lehnwörter im Altlitauischen, Kaunas: Akcinės „Spindulio“ bendrovės spaustuvė. Smoczyński Wojciech 2001: Język litewski w perspektywie porównawczej, Kraków: Wydaw. Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Stender Gotthard Friedrich 1789: Lettisches Lexikon. In zween Theilen abgefasset, und den Liebhabern der lettischen Litteratur gewidmet, Mitau: J. F. Steffenhagen. Trautmann Reinhold 1910: Die altpreussischen Sprachdenkmäler, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Ulmann Carl Christian 1872: Lettisches Wörterbuch. Erster Theil. Lettisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Riga: Verlag von H. Brutzer & Co. Straipsniai / Articles 23 DANIEL PETIT Urbutis Vincas 1999: Daukanto paburmãi „gūviai, smarkiai“ sąsaja su padūrmu „t.p.“ platesniame žemaičių ypatingos darybos prieveiksmių fone ir dar šis tas apie pr. dūrai „baikštūs“ ir sl. *durb „kvailas; baikštus“. – Baltistica 34(2), 215–234. Senosios prūsų kalbos žodžio dūrai kilmė SANTRAUKA Tradiciškai senosios prūsų kalbos būdvardis dūrai ‘baikštus’ (= vok. scheu) yra lyginamas su slavų abstrakčiuoju daiktavardžiu *durb (rus. дурь ‘kvailumas’) ir jo būdvardiniu derivatu *durbnъ (rus. дурной́, lenk. durny ‘kvailas, beprotis’). Tačiau tiek formos, kiek ir semantinis, santykis tarp abiejų šių leksinių šeimų vis dar lieka neaiškus. Atsižvelgiant į baltiškas formas reikėtų pirmiausia atskirti baltiškos kilmės žodžius nuo slaviškų skolinių (liet. dur̃nas). Iš pirmojo žvilgsnio atrodo, kad reikšmę ‘baikštus’ turi tik baltų kalbos (s. pr. dūrai, liet. dūras) o reikšmę ‘kvailas, beprotis’ – tik slavų kalbos (rus. дýрь ir kt.). Tačiau slovėnų dūr ‘baikštus’ (XIX a.) rodo, kad reikšmę ‘baikštus’ galėjo turėti ir slavų kalbos, taigi leksinės šeimos polisemija būdinga jau baltų–slavų prokalbei. Fonetiniu atžvilgiu baltų formas galima kildinti iš nulinio laipsnio (*dūr-), o slavų formas – iš o-laipsnio (*dour-). Visos formos dažniausiai laikomos giminiškomis su veiksmažodžiu *dūr-ti (liet. dūrti, lat. durt), bet jų semantinė derivacija dar lieka nemotyvuota. Veiksmažodis *dūr-ti (liet. dūrti, lat. durt) greičiausiai kildintinas ne iš ide. šaknies *derkaip dažnai manoma (plg. gr. δέρω ‘perplėšti’, got. dis-tairan, s. sl. дьрати, rus. драть, liet. dir̃ti / derù arba dìrti / diriù, latv. dīrât), bet iš ide. šaknies *dhurh₁- (plg. het. du̯arnizi ‘sudaužo’, vedų dhūrvati ‘gadina’). Semantiniu atžvilgiu santykį tarp ‘durti’ ir ‘baikštus’ / ‘kvailas’ galima motyvuoti remiantis lietuvių frazeologizmu nudurti akis į žemę, kuriuo išreiškiama sunki psichologinė būsena. Įteikta 2021 m. liepos 16 d. DANIEL PETIT École normale supérieure 45, rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris, France [email protected] 24 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV