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From: iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski)
Subject: Re: Is Turkish a new language?
Message-ID: <D5qK52.Dxz@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <ddd-0203950430200001@dsampekg.uqac.uquebec.ca> <3jjchf$n4v@netnews.upenn.edu> <ddd-0803950605150001@dsampekg.uqac.uquebec.ca>
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 11:05:24 GMT
Lines: 40

In article <ddd-0803950605150001@dsampekg.uqac.uquebec.ca> ddd (ddd) writes:
> One interesting fact !!!!!!
>
>In Sumer the word for God is "Dingir" which has a curious meaning
>made up of two words
>  
>         Din = Sky
>           and
>         Gir = Chamber 

Is this a fact?  May we have a reference for it?

I looked up the words in P Anton Deimel (ed.), _S^umerisches Lexicon_,
a multi-volume work into which a lot of good scholarship has gone, and
the result of my search was that

(1) _din_ doesn't seem to mean anything (not `sky', anyhow);
(2) _gir_/_g~ir_ can mean just about anything in the world except `chamber'.

Besides, the _ng_ in the `god' word is a single velar nasal (_g~_),
not a _n_+_g_ cluster, so the word _dig~ir_ is decomposed as
_di_+_ngir_ (_di_+_g~ir_).  _di_ means `judge(ment)', and _g~ir_ --
well, it has many meanings, but here the one the dictionary prefers
is `knife, dagger, sword; lightning; brilliance'.

> In all Turkic languages the word for God are various derivatives such as
> 
> Tingir, Tengir, Tangara, Tengri, Tangri, or Tanri.
> 
> I wish some linguist would investigate this !

`The striking similarity [...] has been noticed, but it would be
unsafe to make any conclusion from this fact' (John Dyneley Prince,
_Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon_, Leipzig 1908).

-- 
`"Na, na ... ah mean, *no wey*, wi aw due respect, ma lady," stammers Joe.'
Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk)    (J Stuart, _Auld Testament Tales_)
* Centre for Cognitive Science,  2 Buccleuch Place,   Edinburgh EH8 9LW,  UK
* Cowan House E113, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Pk Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5BD, UK
