Birds of a feather

Latin columba ‘pigeon, dove’ and Greek κόλυμβος ‘grebe’

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21334331
AutoresRoberto Batisti (Università di Bologna, Bologna , Italy, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen126
Número1
Páginas205-228
Fecha de publicación2021-11-08
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaIndogermanische Forschungen (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0019-7262 • E-ISSN: 1613-0405
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/if-2021-010
OpenAlexW4200610751
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas9

The Latin bird-name columba ‘pigeon, dove’ has often invited comparison with Proto-Slavic *gȍlǫbь ‘id.’, as well as with Greek κόλυμβος ‘grebe, diving bird’. However, the first comparison is formally problematic, while the second one is semantically difficult. The first section of the present paper discusses the etymology and derivational history of Lat. columba, concluding in favor of an IE formation probably parallel to, but not cognate with, the one reflected by Slavic. In the second section, Gk. κόλυμβος is discussed together with the verb κολυμβάω ‘to dive’, showing that the commonly assumed derivation of the latter from the former is unlikely. A new etymology is then proposed for this word-family, arguing that both κόλυμβος

Cognate · Etymology · Linguistics · Noun · Parallels · Section (typography) · Slavic languages · Verb · Computer Science · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy