Common Vocabulary of the Chuvash and Other Turkic Languages with Germanic Since the 2-Nd

Valentyn Stetsyuk, Lviv; Ukraine

Introduction to the Study of Prehistoric Ethnogenic Processes in Eastern Europe and Asia

Common vocabulary of the Chuvash and other Turkic languages

with Germanic since the 2-nd Millemium BC.

When the Hittites, Italics and Illirians migrated to the south, their former areas were occupied by Germanic tribes and thereby they contacted with Bulgars, who stayed in their old residences. Mutual adoptions resulted common lexical fund of the Germanic and Chuvashian (or sometimes other Turkic languages).

Chuv apat “food” – OE ofett, Germ Obst “vegetable”.

Chuv armuti “wormwood” (similar words are present in other Turkic languages) – Germ Wermut “wormwood”.

Chuv ătăr “an otter” – OG *utra, Eng otter , Germ Otter.

Chuv ăvăs “asp, aspen” – OG *apso, OE æps, Germ Espe “asp, aspen”.

Chuv avlan “to marry” – OE ǽwnian, ǽwan “to marry”.

Tat bičä “wife” – OE bicce “bitch”.

Chuv çak(k) “to stick up” (the words of this root are present in other Turkic languages) – Germ Zacke “tooth, jag”.

Chuv čětre “to tremble” (common Turkic root titr) – Germ zittern “to tremble”.

Chuv ja “yes” – Germ ja “yes”.

Chuv jěkel “acorn” – OG *aikel, Germ Eichel “acorn”.

Chuv kavle “to chew” – Germ kauen “to chew”.

Chuv kěrt “flock” – OG *herdo, Germ Herde, Eng herd, Sw hjord “herd, flock”.

Chuv karta “fence” – OG *gardon, Germ Garten, Eng garden.

Chuv lăbăr “thistle” – OE laber, leber “rush, reed”, Old High Germ leber.

Chuv lank “to touch” – Ger lenken “ro direct”.

Chuv latlă “good” – Eng little (West Gmc *lutila).

Chuv măkăn’ “poppy” – Germ Mohn “poppy” (old form *mæhon).

Chuv. năkă “stark”, Tat. nyk “stark” a.o. – OE ge-nàg “rasch, schnell”, Lett. naiks “heftig, rasch, schnell”.

Chuv palt “fast, quick” – OG *balþa, “bold, courageous”, eng. bold, Germ bald “fast, soon”.

Chuv papak, pebek “child” (other Türkic bebi, beba, bebek) – Eng baby.

Chuv patak “a stick, cane” (other Türkic bodaq “branch”) – O.E. bodig „a trunk, chest“, N.E. body, O.H.G. botah.

Chuv pěçen “sow-thistle” – Germ Vesen “siftings, bran”.

Chuv pulkkă “flock, herd” – Chuvash word was borrowed from Old Germanic where *fulka was restored on reason Ger Volk, Eng. folk, Sw. volc etc. “folk, army” of unclear origin. (Kluge Friedrich, 1989). No doubt, this is a travelling word, as similar words without clear phonetic correspondences are present in other Indo-European languages, e.g. Lat. volgus, vulgus “(common) folk”, “herd”, “mob”, Lat. volgō, vulgāris “ordinary, common”, O.-Ind. vargah “division, group”, O.-Sl. pъlkъ “regiment”, Lyt. pulkas, Alb. plogu “mod” etc. (See. Vasmer Max, 1971, V. III; Walde A.,1965). Obviously here also Lat. populus “folk”, plebs “folk, mob”, Gr. φυλον “people, folk, tribe”, ethnonyms "Volcae", "Poles", "Polans", "Bulgars" (Bulgar – Old name of a Turkic tribe, the ancestors of Chuvash).

Chuv pultăran “a kind of parsley” – Germ Baldrian “valerian”. Perheps, Latin name of the plant Valeriana, that is similar to parsley, is changed accordingly to Lat valere “be strong” and the first form of the name was other. German word is more similar to Tur baldiran “a kind of parsley” and other Türkic names of this plant (in Balkar, Tartarian and Altaian). Therefore, it is not clear, which of the languages, German or Latin, adopted the Türkic word first.

Chuv săpsa „wasp” – OG *wabso “wasp” (OE wæfs, wæps, Germ Wespe), (here also Sl osa “wasp”).

Chuv sepper „supper” – Eng supper. This word considered to be borrowed from Old French which itself is loanword from some Germanic language (Meyer-Lübke W. 1992, 8464).

Chuv sěnk „to drowse, doze”, Turkic *siŋ (Tat seŋü, Kaz siŋdirlu, Uzb singdirmoq etc) „to sink, to be digested – Ger senken, OE sencan „to droop”, Eng “to sink”.

Chuv sěre „very” – Middle High Germ sēre, OE sāre, Germ sehr “very”.

Chuv çirěp “stark”, Sir Gerard Clauson restores Turkic *jarp (jarpuz) as “herb” (Uzb jalpiz, Kaz žalbyz the plant mint (Mentha L.), Xakani- jarp “firm, solid”, etc”) – Eng herb, Germ herb.

Chuv šěpěl “a small special shovel” – OE scofl “a shovel”, Ger Schaufel “a shovel”.

Chuv tără “top” – Eng tor “stony top”. See Lat torus too.

Chuv tetel “fish net” – Ger Zettel “warp”.

Chuv tu “to do” – Germ tun, Eng to do, Dt doen “to do”.

Chuv turǎ “god” (from Turkic teŋgri) – OG þunre “thundergod, Thor”.

Chuv ulăp “giant, titan” – Ger Alp, Alb “evil ghost”, Eng elf . See also alap’-em “plunder”.

Chuv urpa (Turk arpa) “barley” – OG *arwa, Germ Erbse “pea”.

Chuv vak “wake” – OG *wakwo, Germ Wake, Eng wake, Sw vak “wake”.

Chuv větel “a double-snipe” – Ger Wachtel (O.H.G wahtel) “a quail”.

Chuv vulǎ “trunk, stem” – OE wala, walu “stick, staff”.

Chuv xaltară “to freeze” – OG *kalda, Germ kalt, Eng cold “cold”.

Chuv xatăr “cheerful” – OE hador, Germ heiter “cheerful”.

Chuv xĕr “girl, daughter” (Old Turk – qyř) – Eng girl. Turkic long vibrating consonant ř (rz) could be converted into sounds r or z in different languages during their development. The sound ř had also an other modification ĺ (lš) which could be converted into l or š. Turkic word qyrz “girl” was borrowed in English at prehistoryc times and later it was developed into girl retaining the tendency to a long vibrating consonant at the ending of the word.

Chuv xitren “good, fine” – OE cytren “beautiful”.

Chuv xurlaxǎn (Uzb qorygat, Türkm garağat etc) “currants” – Eng currants.

Chuv xüte “defence” – OG *hoda, Germ Hut, Eng hood, hat, Swhatt “defence”.

Chuv xyr, xyră (in other Turkic languages qarağaj) “pine” – OE furho, O.N.G fura, Cer Fohre “pine”.

Chuv ytla “superfluous” – West Germ. *ìdla “insignificant, vain”, Germ eitel, Eng idle, Dt ijdel.

© Valentyn Stetsyuk