South-West Asian 'heart' and 'liver' Gianfranco Forni - June 2019 Table of Contents Summary 1 Data 2 Indo-European. 2 North-East-Caucasian 2 Semitic 3 Sumerian 4 Hattic 4 Kartvelian 4 Elamite 4 Discussion 5 Semantics 5 Indo-European. 5 North-Caucasian 5 Semitic. 5 Sumerian 6 Hattic 6 Kartvelian 6 Elamite 6 Conclusion 7 Suggestions for future research 8 Summary The present draft paper (based on a much wider project on South-West Asia multilateral comparisons) suggests that Proto-Indo-European1 *iek"-r/n- 'liver', Proto-North-East-Caucasian2 *Hlät+'V 'liver', Proto- Semitic *libb- 'heart', Sumerian ša(g) (Emesal šab) 'heart', Hattic šakil 'heart' (and possibly Proto-North- West-Caucasian *ts"?A 'liver', Proto-Kartvelian *qwi31-l- 'liver' and Elamite buni 'heart') may be related and derive from a proto-form ** l'ek"- (or similar). A more thorough treatment (incl. regular sound laws and detailed references to literature) may follow in 2019-2020 if time permits, but some researchers might be interested in the present draft anyway. 1 henceforth, PIE 2 henceforth, PNEC 1
Data Indo-European PIE *(H)iek"-r/n- 'liver' ANATOLIAN: [Hittite leš(š)i-, lišši-, unrelated] GREEK hêpar, -atos CELTIC: Proto-Celtic *ik"ori- 'roe, spawn' > MIr iuchair ITALIC: Latin iecur, iocineris GERMANIC: Proto-Germanic *libro- > OHG lebara, English liver, etc. TOCHARIAN [B wästarye < PIE *udstryo-, unrelated] SLAVIC: OCS ikra 'roe' BALTIC: Lithuanian ìkras 'fish egg; calf', jeknos, Latvian aknas, Old Prussian lagno 'liver' ARMENIAN leard (also 'bright red' and 'clotted blood' in dialects) INDO-ARYAN: Sanskrit yákr-t, yakn-ás IRANIAN: Old Avesan y?kara, Modern Persian jigar, Khotanese gyagarrä, jar(r)a, Ossetic igær, Kurdish cerg, Yidgha y?yan, Ormuri jašr, etc. North-East-Caucasian Proto-North-East-Caucasian *Hlät+'V 'liver' > NAKH: - AVAR-ANDI: Proto-Avar-Andi *rit+?V > Chadakolob tul; Andi relitt:i; Akhvakh ritt'ett:i; Chamalal jelatt :; Tindi relatt :; Karata rettajitt :; Botlikh rehin; Bagvalal lelet :; Godoberi lelitta; Avar tul TSEZIAN: - LAK-DARGWA: Lak t:ilik ?; Proto-Dargwa *dulek? > Akushi dulek, Tsudakhar dulek?, Kubachi dilik', Chirag dilak? LEZGHIAN: Proto-Lezghian *lätt? > Lezghi leq'; Tabasaran lik ?; Agul lek; Rutul laq; Budukh leq Khinalug - 2
Semitic Proto-Semitic *libb- 'heart' > East Semitic Akkadian libbu Eblaite li-bù /libbu(m)/ Modern South Arabian Mehri ??-wb?b Jibbali ub, ubbáta, Ebbeta Soqotri ál'bab, 'Ãlbib Ethiopian Semitic Amharic labb Soddo labb Tigre lab(b) Tigrinya labbi Geez labb Central Semitic Epigraphic South Arabian lb Arabic lubb 'inside; mind' Ugaritic lb Phoenician lb Hebrew l?b Aramaic lb, libb?, liba, leb, etc. Syriac lebb? 3