Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms

HARALD BICHlMEIER Saxon Academy of Sciences Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Research interests: Old European hydronymy, Indo-European, Celtic and Germanic etymology, historical phonology and morphonology, Mycenaean, Old Indo-Iranian syntax. VÁCLAV BLAŽEK Masaryk University Research interests: Old European hydronymy; Indo-European, Celtic, Baltic, Slavic and Tocharian etymology; historical phonology and word formation, semantic typology. THE ELBE – ON THE SOURCES OF A HYDRONYM* The Elbe: On the Origins of a Hydronym A N N O T A T I O N The article examines the hydronym Albis/Elbe/Labe from various perspectives: geography, the historical record, and diachronic phonology and morphology, especially word formation. The etymological proposals advanced in the context of Germanic, Celtic, and so-called ‘Old European hydronymy’ are assessed with regard to their semantic motivation in light of the semantic typology of watercourse names. * The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers of the article for various useful comments on both its content and literature that had been overlooked. K E Y W O R D S: Hydronym, historical phonology, historical morphology, word formation, etymology, semantic typology, Slavic hydronymy, Germanic hydronymy, Celtic hydronymy, Old European hydronymy, Caland-Wackernagel suffix system. K E Y W O R D S: Hydronym, historical phonetics, historical morphology, word formation, etymology, semantic typology, Slavic hydronymy, Germanic hydronymy, Celtic hydronymy, Old European hydronymy, the Caland–Wackernagel suffix system. Straipsniai / Articles 125 HARALD BICHLMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK ANNOTATION In the article the hydronym Albis/Elbe/Labe is studied from various points of view: geography, historical documentation, diachronic phonetics and morphology, especially word formation. The etymological attempts in the context of Germanic, Celtic and so-called ‘Old European’ hydronymies are evaluated with respect to their semantic motivation in the light of semantic typology. 1. GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION The Elbe rises in the Giant Mountains/Krkonoše on the so-called Labská louka (literally “Elbe Meadow”), at an elevation of 1,386 or 1,387 m, about one kilometer southwest of Mount Violík. It flows into the North Sea between the cities of Cuxhaven and Friedrichskoog through an estuary about 100 km long and 2.5 to 15 km wide. It drains an area of 144,055 or 148,286 km2, and is 1,096 km long (according to other figures, 1,154 or 1,165 km [depending on where the actual mouth is located]). The combined length of the Elbe and the Vltava, whose source is in the Bohemian Forest1, is even 1,245 or 1,329 km, since the Vltava alone is already 430, 433, or 440 km long, while the Elbe measures only 255 km up to its confluence with the Vltava. 2. MODERN NAMES OF THE ELBE The names in the modern languages are: New High German, Dutch, English, Swedish, Finnish Elbe, Danish Elben (including the postponed article), Low German Elv, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Hungarian Elba, Russian El’ba, Upper Sorbian Łobio, Lower Sorbian Łobje, Polish Łaba. 3. HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE HYDRONYM The hydronym is attested from the 1st century AD onward (selected attestations follow)2: 1 Tacitus places the source of the Elbe in the Bavarian-Bohemian border region at the end of the 1st century AD (cf. note 7). It was not until Dio Cassius, proconsul in Pannonia before the year 229 AD, that the source of the Elbe was located in the Vandal Mountains, i.e. the Giant Mountains (cf. note 9). 2 Vgl. etwa schon Pape/Benseler 1863–1870: I, 53; Udolph 1990b: 89–98. 126 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms AD 18 Ἄλβις3 [Strabo VII, 292]; AD 30 Albis4 [Velleius Paterculus II, 106.2]; AD 44 Albis5 [Mela III, 30–31]; AD 61–65 Albis6 [Lucanus, Pharsalia II, 52]; AD 77 Albis7 [Pliny IV, 100]; 3 Διέχει δὲ τοῦ Ἄλβιος ὁ Ῥῆνος περὶ τρισχιλίους σταδίους, εἴ τις εὐθὺ πορεύσας εἴχε (v.l. ἔχει) τὰς ὁδούς νυνὶ δὲ διὰ σκολιάς καὶ ἑλώδους καὶ δρυμῶν κυκλοπορεῖν ἀνάγκη. “The Rhine is about three thousand stadia from the Elbe, assuming one had straight roads at one’s disposal; in reality, however, one must make many detours through crooked, marshy, and wooded country.” (Radt 2003: 240f.). 4The Langobards had been crushed, a tribe even fiercer in its Germanic savagery; and finally, something that had never before been conceived of, much less attempted in practice, came to pass: a Roman army with its standards was led as far as the 400th milestone from the Rhine to the river Elbe, which flows through the territories of the Semnones and Hermunduri. And by that same remarkable good fortune and the commander’s care, as well as by observance of the seasons, a fleet that had sailed around the bays of the Ocean and, coming from a sea previously unheard of and unknown, had sailed up the river Elbe, joined the army of Caesar after achieving victory over many peoples and bringing an immense abundance of every kind of goods. <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2D*.html> “The Langobards were defeated, a tribe even wilder than the savage Germans; and at last what no one had ever before imagined, let alone attempted, happened: a Roman army with its standards was led as far as the 40th milestone from the Rhine to the river Elbe, which flows through the territories of the Semnones and Hermunduri. And, owing to the same remarkable good fortune and the commander’s care, as well as the (careful) observance of the (seasonal) timing, a fleet that had sailed through the bays of the Ocean and, coming by way of a wholly unknown sea, had sailed down the river Elbe, joined Caesar’s army after winning victory over a number of peoples and bringing an immeasurable quantity of all kinds of goods.” 5The highest mountains are the Taunus and Retico, unless one counts those whose names a Roman tongue can scarcely utter. Of the rivers that flow to other peoples, the Danube and Rhône are most famous; of those that flow into the Rhine, the Main and Lippe; and of those that flow into the Ocean, the Ems, Weser, and Elbe. Beyond the Elbe, it is said, lies a huge bay called Codanus, filled with large and small islands. [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pomponius3.html] “Of the mountains, the highest are the Taunus and Retico, setting aside those whose names a Roman mouth can scarcely pronounce. Of the rivers that flow to other peoples, the Danube and Rhône are most famous; of those that flow into the Rhine, the Main and Lippe; and of those that flow into the Ocean, the Ems, Weser, and Elbe. Beyond/north of the Elbe, there is said to be a mighty bay (called) Codanus, with large and small islands.” 6From the farthest North the Elbe pours toward the blond Suebi, and unconquerable is the source/headwaters of the Rhine. “The Elbe flows from the farthest north to the blond Suebi, and the source /upper course of the Rhine is unconquerable.” 7The famous rivers flowing into the Ocean are the Guthalus, Visculus or Vistla, Albis, Visurgis, Amisis, Rhenus, and Mosa. “The following famous rivers flow into the Ocean: Guthalus (today the Pregel or perhaps the Oder), Visculus or Vistla (Vistula), Albis (Elbe), Visurgis (Weser), Amisis (Ems), Rhenus (Rhine), Mosa (Meuse).” From the order of the rivers, it is clear that Pliny located the river Guthalus east of the Vistula; it could therefore be the Pregel, or perhaps the Memel / Nemunas. According to Solin [20], the river Guthalus flowed west of the Vistula/Wisa, so the Oder is perhaps the most likely identification. P. J. Šafárik (1862: 539f., note 41) advances the attractive idea that this hydronym corresponds to the Scandinavian hydronym Göta-Älv = Gothelba in Adam of Bremen. The proto-form would then be a Latin masculine *Gutalbus, i.e. ‘Gothic Albus’.” Straipsniai / Articles 127 HARALD BICH LMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 98 AD Albis8 [Tacitus, Germania 41; Ann. I,59 et passim]; ca. 150 AD Ἄλβις⁹ [Ptolemy II, 11, 1–2]; ca. 200 AD τοῦ Ἀλβίου¹⁰ [Cassius Dio LV, 1,2]; ca. 200 AD τὸν Ἀλβίαν [Cassius Dio LV 10a,2]; ca. 200 AD τοῦ Ἄλβιδος [Cassius Dio LV 1,28]; ca. 300 Alba [Mamertin. Senet. Maximiani 10,4]; ca. 300 ad Germanicum Albam (v.l. album) [Paneg. Constantino Aug. 21,5];¹¹ 8 In the land of the Hermunduri, the Albis rises, a famous river once well known, but now seldom heard of “In the land of the Hermunduri rises the Elbe, a famous and once well-known river, though now little is heard of it” [Germania 41]. 9 1. The western side of Germania is bounded by the river Rhine, and its northern side by the German Ocean, whose description is as follows. After the mouths of the Rhine (river),... Mouths of the river Visourou 28° 30′ (27° 30′) 54° 20′; Manarmanís (Mararmanís) harbor 28° 54° 45′ (15′); mouths of the river Amisios 29° 55′; sources of the river 32° 52′; mouths of the river Visourgios (Visourgos) 31° 55′ 15′ (55°); sources of the river 34° 52′ 30′; mouths of the river Albios (Labios) 31° 56′ 15′; sources of the river 39° 50′. 2. The projection of the Cimbrian Peninsula beyond the Albis 32° 56′ 50′. “1. The western side of Germania is bounded by the Rhine, and the northern side by the German Ocean / the North and Baltic Seas; it is described as follows: After the [eastern] mouth of the Rhine;... mouth of the Vidrus 28° 30′ (27° 30′) 54° 20′; harbor of Manarmanis (Mararmanis) 28° 54° 45′ (15′); mouth of the Amisia/Ems 29° 55′; sources of the river 32° 52′; mouth of the Visurgis/Weser 31° 55′ 15′ (55°); sources of the river 34° 52′ 30′; mouth of the Albis/Elbe 31° 56′ 15′; sources of the river 39° 50′. 2. On the Cimbrian Peninsula/Denmark: headland north of the Elbe 32° 56′ 50′” (Stückelberger/Graßhoff 2006: 220–223). 10From there he [Drusus] moved on toward the land of the Cherusci, crossed the Visurgis, and advanced as far as the Albis, laying waste to everything along the way. For the latter [the Elbe] flows from the Vandal Mountains and, as a mighty river, into the Northern Ocean. He attempted to cross it but was unable to do so; instead, he set up trophies and withdrew. “From there he [Drusus] proceeded to the land of the Cherusci, crossed the Weser and advanced as far as the Elbe, destroying everything along the way. The latter [the Elbe] rises in the Vandal Mountains and flows as a mighty river into the Northern Ocean. He attempted to cross the river, but failed; after setting up trophies, he withdrew.” <http://zocher-regel.gmxhome.de/ArbaloSchlacht/CassiusDioDrususTod.html> 11 Vgl. zum Zitat Udolph (1990b: 90), der dies als „Rasch 5“ zitiert, wobei wiederum „Rasch“ im Literaturverzeichnis nicht auftaucht. Gemeint ist wohl die Dissertation Gerhard Raschs, in deren gedruckter Version (Rasch 2005[1950]) befindet sich die Aufstellung auf S. 12. 128 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms 5th c. Alba [Solin XX 2]; ca. 700 Albis [Geographer of Ravenna IV, 18]; 786 ab Albia fluvio [Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch I 3]; 805 Albia [Chronicon Moissiacense; MMFH I: 58]; 9th c. Ælfe mupa [Orosius] and others;12 Around the year 1120, the chronicler Cosmas of Prague used side by side the Latinized forms Alb, Albe, Albye, also Albia, and the native form Labe, which alternated with the form Albea;13 The Middle High German form of the hydronym was already Elbe; The forms Ielf, Ælf are attested in Old English documents.14 4. ETYMOLOGY The previous discussions about the origin of the hydronym can be summarized in three groups according to the linguistic identification of the presumed source: 4.1. Germanic Holder (1896: 85) und Schwarz (1931: 28; 1961: 48) ordneten den Namen der Elbe unter den Hydronymen germanischen Ursprungs ein. Dies geschah im Hinblick auf aisl. elfr, nisl. elfur, fär. elvur/elfa, norw. elv > dän. elv, schwed. älv ‘Fluss’, schwed. dial. älv ‘vertieftes Flussbett’, älve ‘steiles Flussufer’, mnd. elve ‘Flussbett’.15 However, as early as the scholia to the work of Adam of Bremen from the 11th century (IV, 21; cf. Udolph 1994: 857–859), a rational explanation appears that assumes a change of the proper name into a common noun: GotheIba [today Göta-Älv] fluvius a Nordmannis Gothiam separat, magnitudine non impar est Albiae Saxonum, unde ille nomen sortitur “The river Gothelba separates Gothia from the Northmen. In size, it is not unlike the Elbe of the Saxons, from which that name also derives.” The hydronym Wisła underwent a similar development, appearing in southern Polish dialects as wisła ‘flood, (spring) high water’, Kashubian. Vgl. ausführlicher dazu Udolph 1990b: 89f. Cf. Bretholz 1923: 6, 39, 49, 56, 93, 206, 218. Cf. de Vries 1962: 100. Cf. de Vries 1962: 100; Magnússon 1995: 151; Bjorvand/Lindeman 2007: 223; Kroonen 2013: 20: *albī- f. Straipsniai / Articles 129 HARALD BICHLMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK vjislo ‘river course, stream’16 was transformed, or the hydronym Dunaj (‘Danube’), which became Ukrainian dunáj ‘flood, large quantity of water’, Russian dialectal ‘stream emerging from the ground’.17 Something similar is also known, for example, from the transformation of Charlemagne’s name into the Common Slavic appellative *karlb ‘king’.18 As an indirect argument against a Germanic origin, J. Udolph (1994: 857) points out that it would already be remarkable if such a large and important river bore a name more recent than those of its tributaries, for which a pre-Germanic origin is regularly assumed, as, for example, in the case of the names Iser/Jizera and Eger/Ohře in Bohemia, or Saale, Ilm, Seeve, Bille, Oste, and others in Germany. 4.2. Celtic In Czech historical and archaeological literature, the claim repeatedly appears that pre-Germanic hydronyms such as Elbe/Labe, Eger/Ohře, Iser/Jizera19, etc., are of Celtic origin.20 But none of these names bears features that would be exclusively characteristic of the Celtic languages. Similar river names occur not only in areas formerly settled by Celts, such as, for example, Alba (a coastal stream in Spain [Pliny 3, 22]); Aube (a tributary of the Seine: 877 Alba, in the Ravenna Cosmography Albis); Aubetin (a tributary of the Grand Morin: 632 Alba); Albe (a tributary of the Saar: 1200 Alba); Alb (a tributary of the Rhine near Karlsruhe: 890 Alpa-gowe), etc.;21 possibly also the East Slovak river name Laborec (a tributary of the Latorica: 1150 Loborcy, 1254 Laborch);22 but also far beyond the boundaries of that settlement area, e.g. Greek Ἀλφειός (rivers in Arcadia, Elis, and Bithynia); 16 Vgl. Udolph 1990a: 309. 17 Cf. ÉSSJa V, 156f. 18 Cf. Berneker 1924: 572f.; ESJS 357. 19 Vgl. zu diesem Flussnamen Bichlmeier 2013: 425. 20 Cf. e.g. Dobiáš 1964: 31; Drda/Rybová 1998: 11. 21 Cf. Krahe 1964: 52f. 22 Cf. Lutterer/Majtán/Šrámek 1982: 170. 130 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms Albula (another name for the Tiber and a river near Tibur—both in Latium): Göta-Älv, Klar-Älv, Ljusne-Älv, Vindel-Älv, among other rivers in Scandinavia. The meaning ‘white (river)’, attributed to the hydronym Albis, likewise has no direct support in the Celtic languages. One can only find derivatives that go back to the primary meaning ‘white’ or ‘bright’. These were adopted from Gaulish dialects by the Romance dialects and languages, which initially had no written tradition: *albēna > Swiss French orbeina, Val Soana (Piedmont) albena, Romansh of Obwalden amblana, among others, ‘ptarmigan’;23 *albūka > Occitan (Dauphiné) obūzo ‘white clematis’ / ‘Clematis vitalba’,24 alongside *albūka > Occitan (Morvan) obū, (Rouergue) aubūgo ‘white, marl-rich earth’.25 The ancient authors used the name Albion for Britain, for example in the 70s of the 1st century AD, by Pliny [4, 102]: Albion ipsi [Britanniae insulae] nomen fuit, cum Britanniae vocarentur omnes, de quibus mox paulo dicemus. “Formerly it [the island of Britain] was called Albion, while now all [the islands] about which we shall speak a little later are called the Britains.” The Old Irish designation for Britain, and later also for Scotland, Albu, has the same origin. Both toponyms, Albion and Old Irish Albu, can be derived from a Celtic proto-form *albi̯ōn-, from which Welsh elfydd ‘world’ also derives.26 The initial element in Gaulish personal names of the type Albio-rix ‘World-King’ (the name of the Gaulish god corresponding to the Roman Mars; cf. CIL XII, 1300) evidently belongs here as well. Holder (1896: 83f.), for example, sees a connection with ‘white, bright’, which Latin albus directly conveys, in the characteristic chalk cliffs on the southern coast of the main British island.27 The Welsh, and apparently also Gaulish, designation for ‘world’ has a counterpart in Common Slavic *soětъ ‘bright, world’.28 23 Cf. REW no. 319b. 24 Cf. REW no. 324a. 25 Cf. REW no. 325. 26 Cf. Meid 1990; EDPC 29. 27 Stüber 1998: 101f. trennt indes (im Gefolge von Hamp 1989: 109f.) urkelt. *albi̯ōn- ‘Welt’ von lat. albus etc., gibt aber (ebensowenig wie Hamp) eine Etymologie im eigentlichen Sinne bzw. eine für die dem keltischen Lexem zugrundeliegende Wurzel anzusetzende Grundbedeutung an. Die ebenda erwogene vor- bzw. nichtindogermanische Herleitung des Worts erscheint etwas an den Haaren herbeigezogen. 28 Cf. IEW 30; ESJS 908–910. Straipsniai / Articles 131 HARALD BICHlMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 4.3. Old European On the basis of the more or less general occurrence of hydronyms of a particular structure, especially widespread on the European continent, the hypothesis of the so-called ‘Old European hydronymy’ was formulated. Its founder, Hans Krahe, and his successors, Wolfgang P. Schmid, Jürgen Udolph, and others, assume that it is a legacy of the first wave of migration that brought the Indo-European language(s) to Europe. However, this was no longer the undifferentiated proto-language, but in some sense its main stream, which remained after the separation of the Anatolian, Tocharian, Indo-Iranian, Armenian, and Greek branches. The derivational suffixes with which the hydronymic word bases are extended are clearly Indo-European, as is the hydronymic root late Proto-Indo-European *albh- < Proto-Indo-European *h2el-bh-, on which the name of the Elbe/Labe is based, as are numerous other European hydronyms:29 −ā −ī/−iā −nā −rā −lā −(V)nt(i)ā Albaₑ (1st c.) [Plin. 3, 22] Albis (1st c.) > ElbeD&LaběCZ Albina (777) > AlmA AlvraCH Albula = TiberI [Verg. Aen. 8,332] Albenta (16th c.) > ElbentasLT Alba (632) > AubetinF ElberN Albula [Plin. 3,110] > Fiume dell’AlberoI Labenza (864) > LafnitzA Alba (817) > AlfD AlbueraE AlfenzA Alba (877) > AubeF AubanceF Alba (986) > AlbD UlvundaNO Alba (1095) > AlpCH A B B R E V I A T I O N S: A Austria; CH Switzerland; CZ Czech Republic; D Germany; E Spain; F France; I Italy; LT Lithuania; No Norway. In general, these are derivational suffixes that were productive in the majority of Indo-European branches and must be reconstructed for the proto-language. It remains to determine the origin and meaning of the Late Proto-Indo-European hydronymic base *albh-. 29 Cf. Krahe 1953: 40–42; Krahe 1964: 52f., 76, 101f.; Tab. 1 between pp. 63 and 64. 132 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms 4.3.1. Krahe (1964: 52f.) believed that the name referred to the ‘white’ or ‘bright’ color of the water of a particular river or landscape (formation) through which a body of water flows. In support of this, he relied especially on data from the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family: Latin albus ‘white’, with the derivatives Latin alburnus ‘whitish’, albarus ‘white poplar’, 30Umbrian accusative plural neuter alfu, ablative plural neuter alfer ‘white’. 31The meaning ‘white’ is also preserved in the later Greek glosses ἀλφούς · λευκούς32 and ἄλωφούς · λευκούς,33 attested around 500 AD by the Alexandrian lexicographer Hesychius. Older is Greek ἀλφός ‘white eruption or similar condition in leprosy’; Hesiod, ca. 700 BC, already knew this word.34 Related forms in other Indo-European languages probably no longer allowed direct recourse to the original appellative: Proto-Germanic *alb-it-/-ut- > Old Norse elptr and ǫlpt, later also álpt, Old Icelandic álft, Old English (Kentish) ælbìtu, (West Saxon) ielfetu, later ylfet(t)e, Old High German elbìz, variants albìz, alpiz, aluiz, etc., ‘swan’, but Dutch alft, elft ‘allis shad (Alosa alosa)’; 35Common Slavic *olb-ędb/-ǫdb >Bulgarian lébed, Macedonian labed/lebed, Serbian-Croatian läbūd, Slovenian labód, Slovak and Czech labuť, Polish łabędź, Kashubian łabądz, White Russian lébedz’, Ukrainian lébid’, Russian lébed ‘the same’.36 The hypothetical Proto-Germanic root *alb-, meaning ‘white, light in color’, could also have motivated the formation of words such as New High German dialectal Alben ‘calcareous sand beneath fertile soil’ and Swedish dialectal alf ‘the same’. Also probably related are Albanian elb ‘barley’ (~ Greek ἄλφι ‘barley flour or groats’) and Hittite alpa- ‘cloud’, with regular loss of the laryngeal *h₂- in initial position in the ablaut variant *h₂olbh₀-37. 4.3.2. The ‘Old European’ hypothesis has also undergone development. The younger generation of its proponents, led by W. P. Schmid and Jürgen Udolph, favors a more ‘hydrological’ etymology for the hydronym Elbe/Albis/Labe. It is assumed that hydronyms of the type *Al⁰, *Alb⁽ʰ⁾⁰, *Ald⁽ʰ⁾⁰, 30 Cf. REW nos. 318, 329a. 31 Cf. Untermann 2000: 79f.; EDL 32. 32 Cf. Latte 1953: 117. 33 Cf. Latte 1953: 119. 34 Cf. LfgrE I, 591. 35 Cf. EWA II, 1032–1036. 36 Cf. Vasmer 1986–1987: II, 470f.; ESSJa VI, 19; 32, 50f.; EDPS 365. 37 Cf. IEW 30f.; EDHIL 169; EDG 77f.; Bichlmeier 2012: 388f. Straipsniai / Articles 133 HARALD BICHLMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK *Alm⁰, *Aln⁰, *Al(V)nt⁰, *Als⁰, *Alist⁰ are ultimately all of the same origin, that is, they go back to the same Proto-Indo-European root. 38 The question of the origin of the labial element following this root (whether it is a root extension or a suffix) was not seriously addressed by these two scholars and consequently was not satisfactorily resolved either (see below). They take as their starting point the Proto-Indo-European verbal root *el-/*ol- ‘to flow’.39 The ablaut *e-: *o- implies, according to current Indo-European scholarship, an initial laryngeal *h₁-. Thus, according to current scholarly opinion, the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁elh₂- ‘to drive toward’ (LIV2 235) is likely to be present, and its meaning can quite readily motivate names of rivers with (fast-)flowing water. The initial a- instead of the expected e- or o- is more difficult to explain in languages in which Late Proto-Indo-European *a and *o did not merge (as in Baltic, Slavic, and Germanic), namely Celtic and Italic (as well as Greek, which can be consulted for comparison). P. Schrijver (1991: 65–73) showed that the sequences *h₁RC- and *h₂RC- probably developed in the same way into *aRC- in the Italic languages. A parallel development can be assumed in Celtic, at least in most cases,40 although the rule does not apply when a vowel followed *-l-. Consequently, the simplest assumption is that there were two different original motion verbs, differing at least in their initial laryngeal. These are also attested in the already mentioned Proto-Indo-European *h₁elh₂- ‘to drive toward’ (LIV2 235), alongside Proto-Indo-European *h₂elh₂- ‘to go aimlessly’ (IEW 27f.; LIV2 264); semantically, the first root is more applicable to rapidly flowing water, the second to slower watercourses, perhaps meandering ones. The Elbe was such a meandering watercourse over long stretches even in the 19th century, before corresponding structural alterations were made to it. This solution, however, implies the existence of a labial suffix and makes it necessary to explain such a suffix as well. Hyllested (2010: 203–208) has now offered a satisfactory solution, showing that 38 So folgt etwa auch Fischer 1996: 65 dem Vorschlag Schmids 1993: 39f. und setzt mit diesem idg. *albhā- ‘Fluss’ an (wobei völlig unklar bleibt, wie daraus ebenda genanntes aisl. elfr entstanden sein soll, wenn kein Umlaut bewirkendes *-i/ī- im Suffix enthalten ist), während etwa HOS I, 239 neben der traditionelleren Ansicht, dass der Name der Elbe auf einem Adjektiv der Bedeutung ‘weiß’ beruhe auch eine Vorform germ. *albhī- ‘Fluss’ erwägt. 39 Cf. Schmid 1983: 305f.; idem 1985: 139; idem 1986: 100f. 40 Cf. Zair 2012: 29–38. 134 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms Suffixes may have formed verbal nouns on the basis of Proto-Indo-European *–bʰ– (agent nouns, action nouns, nouns of the result of an action41).42 4.3.3. Regardless of whether one prefers the ‘white’ or the ‘meandering’ etymology,43 it is necessary to clarify the ending of the hydronym. From the perspective of Late Proto-Indo-European morphology, the following possibilities emerge:44 (a) An abstract noun *albʰi– from the adjective *albʰo–. If the adjective meant ‘white, bright’, the abstract noun meant ‘whiteness, brightness’. (b) Late Proto-Indo-European *albʰi– as part of an unattested, abbreviated compound within the Caland-Wackernagel suffix system. It should be added here that a hydronymic root of this kind, Late Proto-Indo-European *albʰ–, also occurs with the further Caland-Wackernagel suffix –ro–(/–rā–): Elber, Alwra, Albuera (see Table 1). (c) A hysterodynamic *–ī–stem (Nom. *–ih₂: Gen. *–ih₂–ós); model: Vedic urḱís ‘she-wolf’, Gen. urḱyàs, Old Norse ylgr ‘the same’ (<Proto-Germanic *uulgʷīz), Gen. ylgar. (d) A proterodynamic *–ī–stem (Nom. *–ih₂: Gen. *–i̯eh₂–s); model: Vedic devī́ ‘goddess’, Gen. devyās, Gothic mawi ‘girl’ (<Proto-Germanic *mag̑uî), Gen. maujos. (e) Some adjectives in Late Proto-Indo-European *–ī(–) can also have a comitative function, if their ending is identified with the instrumental ending *–i–h₁ 41 Cf., alongside other color adjectives, formations such as Proto-Indo-European *tih₁–bʰo– > Greek τῖφος ‘standing water, swamp’, alongside Proto-Indo-European *tih₁–ro– > Lithuanian týras ‘mud’, or Proto-Indo-European *sal–bʰo– *gray ‘dirty’ > ‘dirt, excrement’ > Armenian alb ‘manure, dung’, Hittite *šal–pa– ‘(dog) excrement’, etc. (cf. Hyllested 2010: 203–205). 42 It should be noted here that for what will henceforth be written as the suffix *–bʰo–, the explanation as an actual suffix is possible, but it is also possible that at an earlier stage it was actually the second member of a compound, *–bʰh₂–o–, related to the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰeh₂– ‘to shine, gleam, appear’ (LIV² 68f.). 43 In the literature, both solutions are also often cited side by side without making a decision, for example in Bily 1996: 160, or HOS I, 239. 44 Vgl. Bichlmeier 2012: 384–388; ebenda 381 werden der Vollständigkeit halber auch die hypothetischen Kandidaten *h₁el–bʰ–/*h₁ol–bʰ– ‘rot(braun) seiend’ angeführt, deren Nullstufe uridg. *h₁l̥–bʰ– sich auf keltischem und wohl auch auf alteuropäischem Boden zu *albʰo entwickelte. Die Schwäche dieser Erklärung bleibt freilich, dass eine Bildung aus uridg. *h₁el– ‘rot(braun)’ mit dem Ableitungssuffix *–bʰ– im urindogermanischen Lexikon keine direkte materielle Stütze hat (vgl. IEW 462–464), wenngleich freilich Ableitungen von einem auch sonst nachweisbaren n-Stamm zu dieser Wurzel durchaus existieren, vgl. gr. ἔλαφος ‘Hirsch’ < uridg. *h₁el–n–bʰo– neben gemeinlaw. *jelenъ < urslaw. *(j)eleni– < *h₁el–en– + –i–). Straipsniai / Articles 135 HARALD BICHLMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK connects the i-stems. 45 In principle, Vedic devī ‘goddess’ may also represent a comitative derivative of Vedic devá- ‘god’ and originally have meant ‘appearing together with a god’ or similar. Models (c) and (d) form feminine nouns as well as adjectives. Given the preference (though not complete dominance) for the feminine gender among Indo-European river names, these two models appear to be the most likely candidates. If West Germanic *Albī, Gen. *Alb(i)jōz is the correct starting point, as the results of the borrowings into the West Slavic languages also suggest, then the choice would be narrowed to model (d), that is, the ‘pattern’ devī. This has a further attractive consequence: a number of rivers were venerated as deities in various Indo-European traditions. The declension of such a river name, denoting a river venerated as a deity, according to the pattern of devī ‘goddess’ need therefore not be an anachronistic fiction. 5. DEVELOPMENT ON SLAVIC SOIL The Slavs became acquainted with the hydronym Elbe/Albis no earlier than the 6th century AD. The West Slavic forms, such as Polabian Lābi, Upper Sorbian Łobjo, Lower Sorbian Łobje, Old Czech Labě, and Czech Labe (neuter!)46, do not, contrary to what was long stated in the literature, reflect a Common Slavic proto-form *Olbbji, Gen. *Olbbję47, but rather Common Slavic *Olb’e n. (like Common Slavic *pol’e ‘field’, *mor’e ‘sea’). Common Slavic *Olbbji, Gen. *Olbbję would more likely have been a feminine form and, like Common Slavic *Olbbję n., would have led to Czech *Labí, etc.48 On this basis, one may speculate whether, at the time of contact, the hydronym in the West Germanic dialects of the then inhabitants of the Elbe basin had the form West Germanic *Albī, Gen. *Alb(i)jōz, apparently, and thus followed the declension pattern of Vedic devī—see above, (d)—or had the form West Germanic *Albīz, Gen. *Alb(i)jaz, and was thus declined according to the pattern of Vedic vṛkís—see above, (c). In Slavic, however, in either case one must assume a paradigmatic leveling of the nominative on the basis of the stem form of the other cases, as well as the 45 Cf. Widmer 2005. 46 Cf. Shevelov 1964, 396. 47 Vgl. etwa Profous 1949: 472. 48 Cf. Rozwadowski 1948: 170f. with n. 2. 136 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms the transfer from an originally feminine to a neuter gender. This may, however, more likely have taken place from a paradigm of type (c), built on West Germanic *Alb(i)ja- (→ Common Slavic *Olb’e), since a paradigm built on a West Germanic stem *Alb(i)jō- f. (with a long ‘thematic vowel’) would more likely have led to Common Slavic *Olb’a- f. or *Olbbja- f., from which the attested neuter forms in the West Slavic languages are more difficult to explain. The borrowing must have occurred before the beginning of the umlaut processes in the West Germanic dialect continuum. After Slavic liquid metathesis in the group *oRT, which is to be dated approximately to 750–850 AD,49 that is, still before the breakup of the West Slavic branch around 900 AD,50 the hydronym acquired the form *Lab’e on West Slavic soil, which, on account of its phonological shape, took neuter gender.51 Within the Czech (and more broadly Slavic) river-name landscape, the name with this gender is quite isolated. At least initially, the name may still have been feminine, though this cannot be demonstrated. The transition probably occurred because of the identical endings, since Old Czech -ě > Czech -e occurs in both neuter and feminine declension paradigms, but the analogy that would have prompted the shift remains completely obscure given that river names are almost always feminine. Polish Łaba < Common Slavic *olba- ← West Germanic *albō-52 stands somewhat apart here; it apparently derives from a gender-shifted form of an old o-stem, such as Latin albus ‘white’ (assuming the etymology is identical). 6. A LOOK AT SEMANTIC TYPOLOGY Naming watercourses after their color represents a very frequent semantic motivation, and white or light colors are particularly popular in this respect.53 In the Czech Republic, examples include: 49 Cf. Shevelov 1964: 633f.; Lamprecht 1987: 161–163. 50 Cf. Novotná/Blažek 2007: 201. 51 Die ältere Ansicht (vgl. Profous 1949: 472; Schwarz 1961: 363), nach der *Labbъji, Gen. *Labbję entstanden sei, ist nicht länger haltbar; vgl. dazu auch die oben in Anm. 47 zitierte Literatur. 52 Cf. Rozwadowski 1948: 171f. 53 It should of course be emphasized here that, at least when a ‘white’ river exists alongside a ‘black’ river, this need not necessarily have anything to do with coloration, but may simply serve to distinguish rivers located close to one another or headwaters that converge somewhere to form a Straipsniai / Articles 137 HARALD BICHLMEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK Bílina (84 km), left tributary of the Elbe/Labe; Bělůnka (25 km), left tributary of the Elbe/Labe; Bílá voda (after its confluence with the Sloupský potok, the Punkva is formed); no fewer than six streams named Bělá (tributaries of the Svitava, the Kladská Nisa/Nysa Kłodzka/Glatzer (Schlesischen) Neiße, the Jizera/Iser, the Divoká Orlice, the Hejlóvka, and the Chotovický potok); three watercourses named Bílý potok (tributaries of the Bílina, the Bezdrevský potok, and the Svratka); headwaters of larger rivers such as Bílé Labe/Weißwasser (left tributary of the Elbe/Labe), Bílá Opava/Weiße Oppa (right tributary of the Střední Opava), Bílá Desná (right tributary of the Desná), Bílá Ostravice/Weiße Ostrawitza (after its confluence with the Černá Ostravice/Schwarzen Ostrawitza, the Ostravice/Ostrawitza is formed). The Svitava/Zwitta(wa) (97 km), left tributary of the Svratka/Schwarza(ch), and the Světlá (12 km), right tributary of the Studená Vltava/Kalten Moldau, should not be overlooked. Among Slavic hydronyms of this origin is the longest river course in the Russian-Bashkir water system, the Belaja (1430 km), a tributary of the Kama. The naming of two Icelandic rivers called Hvítá (185 and 117 km) is also transparent. In Asia, mention should be made of the western Iranian river Sefid-Rūd (670 km), which flows into the Caspian Sea from the south; the Old Indian river name Śvetyā [RV X,75,6], in Vedic times the name of one of the tributaries of the upper Indus. In Central Asia, examples include the Uyghur river Aksa (282 km), one of the main headwaters of the Tarim River in northwestern China, and the river of the same name Aksa (316 km) in Kazakhstan, which feeds Lake Balkhash. In China, the longest ‘White River’ is the 白河 Bái Hé (1329 km), which flows through Peking/Beijing and is now called Hǎi Hé ‘Sea River’. In Africa, besides the White Nile, the West African river Bakoye (560 km) is worth mentioning, its name meaning ‘white river’ in Mandingo; after its confluence with the river Bafing (‘Black River’), the river bears the name Senegal. In the Americas, examples of these transparent hydronyms include the White River (265 km), a tributary of the Yukon in Alaska; the Blanco River (140 km) in central Texas, which flows into the San Marcos River; the Brazilian Rio Branco (1300 km, drainage basin 195 000 km2), a tributary of the Río Negro (2300 km), itself one of the northern tributaries of the Amazon. In Oceania, examples include the Māori name Waima on New Zealand’s North Island, and many others. In the Indo-European languages, there are several cases in which a color term occurs in names referring to bodies of water: which can serve as the confluence of a larger river, which then bears no further qualifier in its name. Compare, for example, (with a different pair of colors) the Red Main and the White Main, which join to form the Main, etc. (cf. Holzer 1994–1995; 2007: 96). 138 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI Elbe – zu den Quellen eines Hydronyms (a) Proto-Slavic *balta- > Common Slavic *bolto- ‘swamp, mud’ vs. Lithuanian báltas ‘white’; cf. also Polish dialectal biel, Belarusian bel ‘marshy meadow’ vs. Proto-Slavic *bēla- >Common Slavic *bělъ(jь) ‘white’.54 (b) Proto-Celtic *dubro- ‘dark’ > Old Irish dobur ‘water’ evidently arose from the contamination of Proto-Celtic *dubu- ‘black’ and *dubno- ‘deep’ on the one hand, and *udro- ‘water’ on the other.55 Examples of slower, meandering rivers whose lower courses (mostly) proved dominant in the naming are fewer in number, but this may also be because such less expressive hydronyms attract less interest from etymologists. At least a few transparent Slavic hydronyms may nevertheless be cited: Mda – 101 km, a tributary of the Msta (445 km) in Novgorod Oblast; Nemda – 162 km, flowing right into the Pižma → Vjatka → Kama → Volga; Nëmda – 146 km, flowing left into the Volga in the territory of the former Kostroma Governorate; Vasmer (1986–1987: 2, 588) erklärt beide Hydronyme als ein Gegensatzpaar *Mъda ‘langsamer (Fluss)’: *Ne-mъda ‘nicht langsamer (Fluss)’, vgl. russ.-ksl. izmъděti ‘ohnmächtig, schwach werden, debilitari. A similar hydronym is found in West Slavic territory, but extended by an l-suffix (cf. Common Slavic *mъdblъ(jь) > Old Church Slavonic mъdlъ ‘sluggish’, i.e. ‘lazy, slow’, Czech mdlý and Common Slavic *mъd(b)lnъ(jь)56 (alongside *mъdblъ° > Russian médlennyj ‘slow’). Mulde – 147 km, a left-bank tributary of the Elbe/Labe, which it joins at Dessau. It is formed by the confluence of the Zwickauer Mulde/Cvikovská Modla (167 km) and the Freiberger Mulde/Freiberská Modla (124 km) at Sermuth (Saxony). Modla – a small river 27 km long, a left-bank tributary of the Elbe/Labe, which it joins at Lovosice, i.e. between the mouths of the Eger/Ohře and the Bílina. It should be added that these are probably Sorbianisms, since o is the regular Sorbian reflex of Common Slavic *ъ; cf. archaic Lower Sorbian módły ‘weak, faint, exhausted; dead’, Upper Sorbian modły alongside Eastern Lower Sorbian medly57.58 Cf. ĚSSJa 2, 79–81 (*bělъ(jь)); 2, 179–181 (*bolto); ESJS 61 (bělъ), 65f. (blato). Vgl. Hamp 1972: 236; EDPC 107f. Vgl. Vasmer 1986–1987: 2, 590f.; ĚSSJa 20, 210f.; ESJS 516f.; EDPS 332. Cf. Schuster-Šewc 1983–1996: 939. Vgl. zum Weiteren Vondrová/Blažek 2001, 312; Udolph 1986 lehnt die ganze auf ‘langsam’ aufgebaute Etymologie dieser slawischen Hydronyme ab und setzt stattdessen für die westslawischen Hydronyme eine Dissimilation aus *mold-l- vom Verb gemeinslaw. *melti ‘mahlen’ voraus. Strp̄snai / Articles 139 HARALD BICH(L)MEIER, VÁCLAV BLAŽEK 7. SUMMARY It is evident that etymologies for the name of the Elbe/Labe based on lexemes meaning ‘white, bright’, ‘slow’, or ‘to meander’, and the like, are conceivable not only from the phonetic perspective but also from that of semantic typology. The sole weakness of the latter etymologies is that no extension of the roots Proto-Indo-European *h1elh2- and Proto-Indo-European *h2elh2- with a labial element/suffix can be demonstrated in the appellative vocabulary of the individual Indo-European languages. 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Du sprendimai atrodo priimtinesni nei kiti: „baltoji“ etimologija, kurią pasiūlė Hansas Krahe, ir „lėtai tekanti“ etimologija, kurią pirmas pasiūlė, bet plačiau nei ištyrė Wolfgangas P. Schmidas. Įteikta 2014 m. spalio 14 d. HARALD BICH LMEIER Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften Arbeitsstelle Jena: Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen Zwätzengasse 12, D-07743 Jena [email protected] Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Orientalisches Institut, Seminar für Indogermanistik und Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft D-06099 Halle (Saale) [email protected] VÁCLAV BLAŽEK Ústav jazykovědy a baltistiky, Filozofická fakulta Masarykovy University A. Nováka 1, CZ-60200Brno [email protected] 146 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXI