The Origin of Old Prussian “dūrai”

Straipsniai / Articles 11 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 *durь (Russian дýрь ‘stupidity’) and *durъnъ (Russian дурнóй, 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 aks  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 *durь (rus. дýрь ‘kvailumas’) ir *durъnъ (rus. дурнóй, 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)durti’. Galima teigti, kad šis vedinys yra pagrįstas frazeologine išraiška nudùrti aks  žẽmę ‘žiūrėti žemyn’, vartojama psichologiniam sunkumui žymėti. ESMINIAI ŽODŽIAI: Senoji prūsų kalba, lietuvių kalba, slavų kalbos, indoeuropiečių prokalbė, etimologija, frazeologija. DANIEL PETIT 12 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV 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) Jr Vater reitʒet ewre Kinder nicht ʒu ʒorn / das ʃie nicht ʃchew werden, Sondern ʒiehet ʃie auff in der ʒucht vnd vermanunge ʒu dem HERRN. (Old Prussian) Jous Tawai ni tenʃeiti ioūʃans malnikans prei nertien / kai ʃtai ni dūrai poʃtānai / Schlait poauginneiti ʃtans / en Kanxtiʃku preiʃtan Rikijan. ‘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, 211. The Old Prussian adjective dūrai renders German scheu ‘shy, fearful’. A few lines earlier (III 9316), there is another Old Prussian adjective būrai translating German ʃchuchter ‘shy, timid’ in reference to women: (2) Enchiridion III 9316 (German) So jr wolthut / vnd nicht ʃo ʃchuchter ʃeyt. (Old Prussian) ikai ious labban ʃeggēti / bhe ni tijt būrai aʃti. ‘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 dras was mentioned by Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) with the meaning tylus, nekalbus ‘silent, taciturn’ (LKŽ II 897). The LKŽ also mentions an abstract noun dras glossed kvailumas ‘stupidity’ (LKŽ II 897, from the dialects of Nočia and Valkininkai) and a few verbs like dūrti glossed laukti, 1 German auff das sie nicht schew werden (Luther 1545), Latin ut non pusillo animo fiant (Vulgata). 2 German so jr wolthut vnd nicht so schüchter seid (Luther 1545), Latin benefacientes et non timentes ullam perturbationem (Vulgata). Straipsniai / Articles 13 The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai tūnoti tylint, nekalbant ‘to wait, to remain silent, without a word’ (LKŽ II 899, from Jonas Jablonskis), drinti glossed kvailinti, mulkinti ‘to make stupid’ (LKŽ II 901, from the dialects of Nemunaitis and Leipalingis) and especially droti glossed būti paniurusiam, akis į žemę įbedus, niūrėti, 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 *durь (Russian дýрь ‘stupidity’) and its derivative, the adjective *durъnъ (Russian дурнóй, 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 *durъnъ ‘silly, stupid, furious’, or one of its historical descendants, was borrowed in Baltic. The adjective dunas ‘silly, stupid’ is already found in Old Lithuanian and unanimously recognized to be a loanword from Belarussian дурн or from Polish durny4. A variant is the Old Lithuanian noun dunius ‘silly, stupid man’, adapted from Belarussian дýрань 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 дурнавáць. Already in the 16th century, Martynas Mažvydas (1570: 46818) had a derivative durniʃte ‘silliness, stupidity’ (= German Torheit). In more recent times, Friedrich Kurschat (1883: 99) has the adjective dunas ‘furious, mad’ (= German rasend, toll), the abstract noun durnỹstė ‘fury, madness’ (= German Tollheit, Verrücktheit) and the verb durnju ‘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. DANIEL PETIT 14 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV 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 дурнóй ‘silly, stupid’ and verbs like дурнéть, дурнúть ‘to act stupidly’, but also, without nasal, the noun дурáк ‘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 duns 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 Lettiʃches 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 Lettiʃches Wörterbuch by Carl Christian Ulmann (1872), beside the recent Russian loanword duraks ‘silly, stupid’ (1872: 55 = German ein Narr), the adjective durns is rendered in German both as dwatʃch ‘silly, stupid’ and as benommen ‘confused, embarrassed’. The examples provided by Ulmann illustrate both meanings: galwa tahda durna ‘my head is so stupid’, durns ʃirgs ‘a rabid horse’ (= German ein Pferd, das den Koller hat), durna aita ‘a drowsy man’ (= German ein Schlafskopf). In addition, Ulmann (1872: 55) presents a verb durneht ‘to walk asleep, to stay seated, to lounge, to vegetate’ (= German schläfrig einhergehen, ʃo ʃitʒen, faulenʒen, vegetiren) and an abstract noun durnums ‘torpor, numbness, stupidity, vertigo of sheeps’ (= German Benommenheit, Dwatʃchheit, Drehkrankheit der Schafe). The ME (1923: I 519) has duns ‘sad, embarrassed, silly, isolated’ (= German traurig, benommen, dwatsch, wüst) and the verb durnêt ‘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). Straipsniai / Articles 15 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 Belarussian дурн or Polish durny. Once established in the Baltic languages, the Slavic loanword could develop its own family, without direct Slavic model, e.g. Lith. durnỹstė, 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 dras ‘stupidity’, drinti ‘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 duns 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 dras, 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 *durъnъ. 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. DANIEL PETIT 16 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV 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 *durъnъ. 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 dut ‘to sting’ and indirectly by Russian дырá ‘hole’6. These two assumptions are repeated by Toporov (PJ I 391–392) and Mažiulis (PKEŽ 11988: I 239–240; 22013: 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 *durъnъ; (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 clearcut 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 dúr ‘shy, wild’ (= German ʃcheu, wild, menʃchenʃcheu)7, whose meaning is identical to that of the Old Prussian adjective dūrai. More remote, but certainly related, is the Slovenian verb duríti ‘to make hateful, to fill with disgust; to despise’ (= German verhaʃst, ekelhaft machen, verabʃcheuen, 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)ourwhereas Baltic *dūrcan only go back to PIE *d(h)uHr-, *d(h)urH-, or *d(h)H-. 6 Cf. EDSIL 132. But EDSIL 126 suggests that Slavic *durъ and Old Prussian dūrai might be analyzed as *dhou-rofrom a root *dheu- ‘to run’ (cf. Sanskrit dhvati, 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 Raviknar (1776–1845). 8 See Urbutis (2000: 229). Straipsniai / Articles 17 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 *durъ ‘shy’ (Slovenian dúr, Russian dial. дýр) and a noun *durь ‘silliness, stupidity’ (Russian дýрь), the latter being the source of the adjective *durьnъ ‘silly, stupid’ (Russian дурнóй, 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)our-, 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 dùrti, Latvian dut ‘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 дзюрá, Ukrainian дра, Czech džura, 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 дьрати, Russian драть and Lithuanian diti (pres. derù) or drti (pres. diriù), Latvian drât9. This view is probably ill-founded, but, as it plays a crucial role in the etymology of Lith. dùrti, it has to be seriously assessed. Traditionally, Lithuanian diti (pres. derù), drti (pres. diriù), and Old Church Slavic дерѫ, дьрати ‘to tear’ are derived from PIE *der-, and the verb Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian dut ‘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 dùrti, Latvian dut) points to a se root, which is at odds with the derivation from PIE *der-. At PIE level, the root *deris clearly ani (cf. Greek νεόδαρτος ‘newly stripped off’, Sanskrit dtá- < PIE *d-to-); the se 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. DANIEL PETIT 18 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXV illusion. To begin with, the acute tone of the Lithuanian infinitive drti (pres. diriù) is secondary in comparison with the circumflex tone of diti (pres. derù) and cannot be used prima facie as piece of evidence of a PIE se root. Similarly, the nasal infix form in Sanskrit dṇti ‘he tears’, Young Avestan dərənəṇti ‘they tear’ does not necessarily suppose PIE *d-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 se character of Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian dut ‘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 dùr-, Latvian du- + consonant) or its compensatory lengthening (Lithuanian dror with metatony dr-, Latvian dũr- + vowel). The constant se 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 ALEW (I 249–250), is to derive Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian dut ‘to sting’ from a different PIE root *dhuerh1- ‘to damage, to hurt’ (cf. Hittite duuarnizi ‘he breaks’, Sanskrit dhrvati ‘he damages’)11. This analysis has the advantage of solving the problem of the se character of the root. Lithuanian dùrti, Latvian dut 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 dũre ‘fist’ and Celtic *durno- ‘fist, hand’ (Old Irish dorn, Middle Welsh dwrn, 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 *dheurh1-, probably a secondary full grade to *dhurh1-, would nicely explain some of the Slavic forms (cf. Belarussian дзюрá, Ukrainian дра, Czech džura, Polish dziura ‘hole’), and the secondary ablaut grade *dhourh1could be directly reflected by Slavic *durь ‘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 dras, 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 рудóй < 11 Cf. IEW 277; LIV 1140; EDHIL 905–908. Sanskrit dhrvati ‘he damages’ belongs to a se root (cf. the verbal adjective dhrta-), but the thematic variant dhvárati (< PIE *dhuérh1-e/o-) was analyzed as ani, which gave rise to a secondary verbal adjective dhrutá- (from *dhurtá-). A different reconstruction is proposed in the LIV 1140. Straipsniai / Articles 19 The Origin of Old Prussian dūrai PIE *h1roudh-o- = Gothic rauþs, Rural Latin rūfus) vs. *rudē-ti- ‘to be red’ (Lithuanian rudti, Old Church Slavic ръдѣти < PIE *h1rudh-eh1- = Latin rubēre): the pressure of this type is responsible for the creation of a secondary o-grade *douros (as if PIE *dhourh1-o-) instead of PIE *dhuorh1-o- (PIE root *dhuerh1-). The Slavic abstract noun *durь reflected by Russian дýрь ‘stupidity’ and the derivative *durъnъ ‘stupid, silly’ is certainly a secondary formation (as if from PIE *dhourh1-i-), parallel to instances such as Old Church Slavic зъль ‘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 дурнóй ‘silly, stupid’, but it should probably be left aside, since it is not likely to reflect a PIE form *dhourh1-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 *dhh3in θρώσκω, ἔθορον and an o-grade *dhor(h3)-uo- (with Saussure’s effect) in *θορ-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 *dhourh1-) 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 dúr 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 dras ‘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. dūrti ‘to wait, to remain silent, without a word’ and droti ‘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 duns ‘sad, embarrassed, silly, isolated’, durnêt ‘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 11988: I 239; 22013: 149). There is in Lithuanian a phrase nudùrti aks  žẽmę ‘to look down to the ground’ (literally: ‘to stick down one’s eyes to the ground’):