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  1. Word Family - Emerald

    Introduction

    Both Classical Sanskrit 𑀫𑀭𑀓𑀢 marakata: "emerald" and Classical Greek μᾰ́ραγδος máragdos: "emerald" appear to be borrowed from a source like *maraktV.

    This is presumably a form closely related to the Phoenician brqt and Hebrew baréket: "emerald", from *b-r-ḳ: "shining, sparkling". Akkadian cognate baraqu: "shine" instead might have had …

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  2. Word Family - Egypt

    December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝

    Teaser

    Ptah, Egypt, Hephaestus

    Full Text

    • Afro-Asiatic *ptḥ to create?, to begin?
      • Egyptian ptḥ Ptah, self-created divinity of craft and creation
        • English Ptah
        • Egyptian ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ Temple of the Soul of Ptah, Memphis
          • Mycenaean Greek *ai-ku-pi-to
            • Ancient Greek Αἴγυπτος Aíguptos Egypt, the Nile
              • Latin Aegyptus Egypt
                • Western …
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  3. Word Family - Lily

    October theme: Ancient Borrowings 𒅴

    Introduction

    tulips and lilies from Egyptian

    Teaser

    Full Text

    • Afro-Asiatic *ḥrr
      • Egyptian 𓁷:𓂋-𓂋:𓏏-𓆰 ḥrrt flower, blossom
        • Egyptian 𓁹-𓁷:𓂋-𓂋:𓏏-𓆰 jrj-ḥrrt to blossom lit. "make-flower" or "do-flower"
        • Demotic Egyptian ḥrrj flower
          • Coptic ϩⲣⲏⲣⲉ hrēre flower
          • Fayyumic Coptic ϩⲗⲏⲣⲓ hlēri flower
            • Classical Greek λείριον …
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  4. Word Family - Elephant

    October theme: Ancient Borrowings 𒅴

    Teaser

    ivory, elephant

    Full Text

    • Proto-Afro-Asiatic *leb-
      • Chadic
        • West Chadic
          • Tangale labata elephant
      • Egyptian 𓍋𓃀𓅱 ābu elephant, ivory usually with determiner suffix 𓃰 or 𓌟 to distinguish between "elephant" and "ivory"
        • Coptic ⲓⲏⲃ yēb elephant
          • Latin ebur ivory
            • French ivoire ivory
              • English ivory
            • Italian avorio …
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  5. Word Family - Earth

    August theme: Earth and Water 🌎🌊

    Introduction

    Semtic *ʾartɬʼ-: "earth" and Proto-Indo-European *h₁erTeH: "earth". I connect these for several reasons (beyond the obvious). First, there are several indicators that *h₁ was pronounced as a glottal stop, including a number of other words that are apparent correspondences between PIE *h₁ and Semitic …

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