Re: Meaning of Nurus


Douglas Richardson wrote:
Dear Newsgroup ~

The information below regarding the meaning and origin of the Latin
word "nurus" (a kinship term in Indo-European languages meaning
"daughter-in-law") is taken from the following website:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/8.html

"A number of Indo-European languages show a similar word for the
kinship term "daughter-in-law": Sanskrit snu, Old English snoru,
Old Church Slavonic snkha (Russian snokhá), Latin nurus, Greek nuós,
and Armenian nu. All of these forms, called cognates, provide evidence
for the phonetic shape of the prehistoric Indo-European word for
"daughter-in-law" that is their common ancestor. Sanskrit,
Germanic, and Slavic agree in showing an Indo-European word that began
with sn-. We know that an Indo-European s was lost before n in other
words in Latin, Greek, and Armenian, so we can confidently assume that
Latin nurus, Greek nuós, and Armenian nu also go back to an
Indo-European *sn-. (Compare Latin nix [stem niv-], "snow," with
English SNOW, which preserves the s.) This principle is spoken of as
the regularity of sound correspondences; it is basic to the sciences of
etymology and comparative linguistics.

Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and Armenian agree in showing the first vowel
as -u-. We know from other examples that Slavic regularly corresponds
to Sanskrit u and that in this position Germanic o (of Old English
snoru) has been changed from an earlier u. It is thus justifiable to
reconstruct an Indo-European word beginning *snu-.

For the consonant originally following *snu-, closer analysis is
required. The key is furnished first by the Sanskrit form, for we know
there is a rule in Sanskrit that s always changes to (a sh-like sound)
after the vowel u. Therefore a Sanskrit snu- must go back to an earlier
*snus-. In the same position, after u, an old -s- changes to kh (like
the ch in Scottish loch or German ach) in Slavic; hence the Slavic
word, too, reflects *snus-. In Latin always, and in Germanic under
certain conditions, an old -s- between vowels changed to -r-. For this
reason Latin nurus and Old English snoru may go back to older *snus-
(followed by a vowel) as well. In Greek and Armenian, on the other
hand, an old -s- between vowels disappeared entirely, as we know from
numerous instances. Greek nuós and Armenian nu (stem nuo-) thus
regularly presuppose the same earlier form, *snus- (followed by a
vowel). All the comparative evidence agrees, then, on the Indo-European
root form *snus-.

For the ending, the final vowels of Sanskrit snu, Old English snoru,
and Slavic snkha all presuppose earlier - (*snus-), which is the
ordinary feminine ending of these languages. On the other hand, Latin
nurus, Greek nuós, and Armenian nu (stem nuo-) all regularly
presuppose the earlier ending *-os (*snus-os). We have an apparent
impasse; but the way out is given by the gender of the forms in Greek
and Latin. They are feminine, even though most nouns in Latin -us and
Greek -os are masculine.

Feminine nouns in Latin -us and Greek -os, since they are an abnormal
type, cannot have been created afresh; they must have been inherited.
This suggests that the original Indo-European form was *snusos, of
feminine gender. On the other hand, the commonplace freely formed
ending for feminine nouns was *-. It is reasonable to suggest that the
three languages Sanskrit, Germanic, and Slavic replaced the peculiar
feminine ending *-os (because that ending was normally masculine) with
the normal feminine ending *-, and thus that the oldest form of the
word was *snusos (feminine).

One point remains to be ascertained: the accent. Of those four language
groups that reflect the Indo-European accent-Sanskrit, Greek,
(Balto-)Slavic, and Germanic-the first three agree in showing a form
accented on the last syllable: snu, nuós, snokhá. The Germanic form
is equally precise, however, since the rule is that old -s- went to -r-
(Old English snoru) only if the accented syllable came after the -s-.

On this basis we may add the finishing touch to our reconstruction: the
full form of the word for "daughter-in-law" in Indo-European is
*snusós.

It is noteworthy that no single language in the family preserves this
word intact. In every language, in every tradition in the Indo-European
family, the word has been somehow altered from its original shape. It
is the comparative method that permits us to explain the different
forms in this variety of languages by the reconstruction of a unitary
common prototype, a common ancestor." END OF QUOTE

To the Newsgroup:

It is remarkable that Richardson has finally found the Appendix of
Indo-European Roots in the American Hertage Dictionary of the English
Language. Apparently, he had to find the appendix to the fourth
edition on Bartleby.com. The fourth edition of that dictionary has
been available for some time, as have the previous editions, the second
and third of which had similar, if not the same, appendices. (I do not
remember the first edition.) More than twenty-five years ago, I bought
copies of an earlier edition American Heritage Dictionary for may
entire staff and insisted that it be used so that there were no
spelling, grammar, or usage errors in a major report. That edition had
such an appendix which we found useful for that purpose. So, what is
new?

To paraphrase myself from a earlier post: Richardson awakens in the
morning and announces to astronomers and all the world that he has
discovered dawn. This time he has discovered the Appendix of
Indo-European Roots. (Generally, as is the case with most teachers, I
do not like repeating myself; but some students are slow learners and
do benefit from repetition. So, I do so now.)

Someday, it is hoped, Richardson may understand that what is new for
him may not be new for others and, as in the present case, what he has
found may not be appropriate: i.e., a reconstruction of the
pronunciation of a word used more than 5,500 (possibly 7, 000) years
ago has little to with its use or spelling in the medieval period.
(Could it be than Richardson does not realize that the developments he
described in the quoted passage did not take place in the medieval
period?)

CED



Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

Website: www.royalancestry.net

.

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