--- In LexiLine@yahoogroups.com, "marchidan21" <marchidan21@...> wrote:
>
> --- In LexiLine@yahoogroups.com, "Andis Kaulins" <a1ndiskaulins@>
> wrote:
> >
> > 26 LexiLine 2008 Origin of the word "fig"
> > Dear LexiLiners, (reposted - 3rd time - this is the final version)
> >
> > In the last posting at Lexiline, Ronit Maoz (is this
> >
>
<http://www.n-k.org.il/public/english/what/newsletter/pesach_07/dedicati\
> > ons.htm> you, Ronit?) asks us to comment on the question of the
origin
> > of the word "fig".
> >
> > The terms for "fig" in Afro-Asiatic are pretty much all variants
of the
> > completely different word "tin" - see those terms
> >
>
<http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/etymology.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/\
> > semham/afaset&text_number=2437&root=config> at the databases
> > <http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/main.cgi?flags=eygtnnl> of the
Tower
> > of Babel site of Sergei Starostin.
> >
> > In Latvian "tin" means "to twine", i.e. hence this in our opinion
> > originally refers to a "vine" of sorts, whence, perhaps, the Biblical
> > phrase <http://bible.cc/micah/4-4.htm> : "But they shall sit
every man
> > under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them
afraid:
> > for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it."
> >
> > As we read at at the Israel government site for tourism
> >
>
<http://tourism.gov.il/Tourism_Eng/Articles/Newsletter/The+Fig+%E2%80%93\
> > +A+Holy+Land+Summer+Fruit.htm> :
> >
> > "Figs can be seen ripening under the summer sun throughout Israel,
their
> > distinctive aroma perfuming the air around springs and streams from
> > Caesarea Philippi in the north to Ein Gedi in the south. The word
fig is
> > one of several in English that probably comes from Hebrew: paga
means an
> > unripe fig. The fruit gave its name to two villages on the Mount of
> > Olives. One is Bethphage, Beit Pagi, which means "house of unripe
figs,"
> > through which Jesus passed before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem
> > (Matt. 21:1, Mark 11:1, Luke 19:29). The other is Bethany, Beit
Te'enah,
> > which means `house of the fig." ... Summer visitors to Israel can
recall
> > that "each man sitting under his own vine and fig tree" ... is a
> > biblical symbol of peace." [emphasis added by LexiLine]
> >
> > That alleged word origin makes sense if we examine the similar term
> > puika in Latvian, meaning "boy", i.e. "an unripe male, a young
male (in
> > this sense)", also in the Latvian variant term puisis, with similar
> > terms <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boy> found in the following
> > languages: Swedish: pojke
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pojke#Swedish>
> > sv(sv) <http://sv.wiktionary.org/wiki/pojke> c, Estonian poiss- ,
> > Hebrew ×`חור
> > <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%97%D7%95%D7%A8> (bakhúr) m,
> > Irish: buachaill <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buachaill#Irish>
ga(ga)
> > <http://ga.wiktionary.org/wiki/buachaill> m., Portuguese pequerrucho
> >
>
<http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=pequerrucho&action=edit&redl\
> > ink=1> m., Sicilian <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sicilian> :
> > picciriddu
> >
>
<http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=picciriddu&action=edit&redli\
> > nk=1> m. (child); picciottu
> >
>
<http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=picciottu&action=edit&redlin\
> > k=1> m. (teenager), or Welsh: bachgen
> > <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bachgen#Welsh> cy(cy)
> > <http://cy.wiktionary.org/wiki/bachgen> m. - or, as noted at
MacBain's
> > Dictionary, bucach means a boy (dial.): "growing one".
> >
> > At some point the guttural sound at the end was lost and we got the
> > English word boy.
> >
> > The oldest conceptual meaning however will be given to us by the
Latvain
> > variant of puika "boy" which is puisis. Since puse in Latvian means
> > "half", and in Latvian pusaudzis (literally "half-grown, from
pus-aug")
> > means "adolescent" or pusaudze (g//dz permutation) means
"youngster", we
> > see that the Hebrew term and all the other Indo-European terms derive
> > from the basic concept of "unripe" in the sense of "half-grown".
> > The analysis is eminently clear. What the mainstream linguists and
> > etymologists have written about these terms is confused, incompetent
> > babble.
> > Enjoy,
> >
> > Andis
> >
>
> In romanian:
> cu&#355;it = knife/dagger
> pici = young boy
> pitic = small one, dwarf
> (Piticot = name of a dwarf from romanian old story)
> pui = young bird/animal/children
> puic&#259; = young female bird / young girl
> puiet = small tree/plant
> fag = name of a tree
>
> http://dexonline.ro/
>
> Marchidan21

Excellent!

Andis
>