домбай
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Ossetian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
A pan-Caucasian word. Compare Adyghe домбей (dombej, “wisent”), Kabardian домбай (dombaj, “huge”); Abkhaz а-домпей (a-dompʼej, “wisent”), а-думпей (a-dumpʼej), Abaza домбай (dombaj, “wisent; big fellow”); Karachay-Balkar доммай (dommay, “wisent”); Georgian დომბა (domba, “wisent”), Svan დომბა̈ჲ (dombäy, “wisent; big bull, ox”); Armenian դմբո (dmbo, “fool, simpleton”); Lak дунбей (dunbey, “big, flabby; stupid; weak-willed”); Nogai домбай (dombay, “fat”), and dialectal Turkish dombay (“female bison”).
The origin is uncertain; however two theories exist:
- From a Turkic source, compare: Azerbaijani domba (“convex”), dongar (“mound”), Kyrgyz домпой (dompoy, “to be convex”), томпой (tompoy), томпок (tompok, “convex”), Kyrgyz and Kazakh дөң (döñ, “convex; hill, mound”), Kazakh дөңес (döñes, “convex; hump”).[1]
- A migratory term, borrowed into Caucasian languages from a Proto-Indo-European source, compare: Lithuanian stumbras (“wisent”), Latvian sum̃brs, Old Prussian wissambs/wissambris, Proto-Slavic *zǫbrъ.[2]
Noun[edit]
домбай • (dombaj)
Adjective[edit]
домбай • (dombaj)
References[edit]
- ^ Шагиров, А. К. (1977) К. В. Ломтатидзе, editor, Этимологический словарь адыгских (черкесских) языков [Etymological Dictionary of Adyghean (Circassian) Languages][1] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Nauka, page 151
- ^ Gamkrelidze, Th. V., Ivanov, V. V. (1995) Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture. Part I: The Text (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs; 80), Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pages 439–440
- ^ Abajev, V. I. (1958) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 365