Letters M (Mount) & V/W (Valley)
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Scholarly Pursuits
Forum Name: Linguistics
Forum Discription: Discuss linguistics: the study of languages
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=25119
Printed Date: 23-May-2024 at 15:22
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Topic: Letters M (Mount) & V/W (Valley)
Posted By: Cyrus Shahmiri
Subject: Letters M (Mount) & V/W (Valley)
Date Posted: 10-Aug-2008 at 15:34
 This is an interesting Persian article about the letter M: http://www.chn.ir/interactivity/show/?section=1&id=28279 - http://www.chn.ir/interactivity/show/?section=1&id=28279 It says in several languages the word for "Mount" starts with the letter "M" such as Old English Munt, Latin Mons, Hawaiian Mauna, ... I think it can be said about the letters V/W (English Valley, Arabic Wadi, ...), however the Persian article says "W" was used for "Wave", it is the reason the Phoenician "W" was changed to "S".
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Replies:
Posted By: Styrbiorn
Date Posted: 10-Aug-2008 at 17:25
| Lot's of letters are pictograms originally, but I can't say for this case. Among the runes, the M stands for man, though that doesn't have any visual reasons as far as I know (and there are no Germanic word for mountain starting with an m). |
Posted By: Cyrus Shahmiri
Date Posted: 11-Aug-2008 at 12:47
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You are wrong about Germanic, similar to the word "Mount", there are the English word "Mound" and German "Menge" (heap) which have Germanic origins. http://ehl.santafe.edu/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/ie/germet&text_number=+++530&root=config - http://ehl.santafe.edu/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/ie/germet&text_number=+++530&root=config
The Persian word for "Mound" is "Mahur", similar to Swedish "Mur". -------------
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Posted By: Styrbiorn
Date Posted: 11-Aug-2008 at 14:27
| Well, I didn't really count a mound as a mountain, but I'll give you that. Mur means wall, nothing else. |
Posted By: Cyrus Shahmiri
Date Posted: 11-Aug-2008 at 15:10
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But it says "Mur" also means "Mound": http://online-old.ectaco.com/online/diction.php3?lang=21&q=1&refid=316&rfr_id=1&rqt_id=2&pagelang=23&word=mur&direction=2 - http://online-old.ectaco.com/online/diction.php3?lang=21&q=1&refid=316&rfr_id=1&rqt_id=2&pagelang=23&word=mur&direction=2
The Proto-Dravidian word for "hill/Mound" is *meṭ- (Tamil Mettu) -> http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/drav/dravet&text_number=+845&root=config - http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/drav/dravet&text_number=+845&root=config -------------
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Posted By: Styrbiorn
Date Posted: 11-Aug-2008 at 17:58
Well, it's simply wrong. Swedish mur never had that meaning. |