Papers by Alexander Falileyev
Celica, 2023
The late fifteenth-century Itineraries of William Worcestre preserve a brief account of the legen... more The late fifteenth-century Itineraries of William Worcestre preserve a brief account of the legendary history of Brittany. Although the fragment goes back ultimately to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae, it differs from that in several respects. The exact match to the narrative is found in another fifteenth-century document, the so-called Canterbury Roll (previously known as the 'Maude Roll'). The paper shows that this particular variant of the history of the conquest of Armorica was in some circulation in late medieval England, and provides some suggestions regarding the interrelation of the texts containing it.
Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 2023
The article provides philological and linguistic analysis of two set phrases which denote a magic... more The article provides philological and linguistic analysis of two set phrases which denote a magic bead in Ossetian. They are known in epic texts and are reflected also in folklore narratives. In the Iron dialect the magic bead is called cykurajy færdyg, while in Digor its name is γolaqi færdug / zolaq færdug. The research considers its other nominations occurring soradically in the language, which allows a discussion of semantic aspects of the attributes used in these collocations. So far they have remained obscure, and various views on their exact meaning have been expressed. This analysis leads to certain etymological conclusions, and the archaic configuration of one of the lexemes discussed here is treated
in the context of some difficult and not properly resolved features of historical Ossetic morphology and syntax. The study of the other lexeme points, inter alia, to contacts with Turkic languages. The research considers an important chronological dimension that acknowledges the sporadic preservation of archaisms in Iron rather than Digor, and tentatively dates the two names for magic beads as going back, correspondingly, to the Old or Middle Iranian period and the times of Alano-Turkic contacts.
Cisalpine Celtic literacy. Proceedings of the international symposium Maynooth 23–24 June 2022, 2024
LexLep s.v. -al- provides a concise overview of the analysis of the suffix
in Cisalpine Celtic, a... more LexLep s.v. -al- provides a concise overview of the analysis of the suffix
in Cisalpine Celtic, and the present paper aims to contribute to the line
of discussion that considers its IE provenance. In addition to the suggestions already referred to in LexLep and elsewhere I will draw attention to the identical-looking patronymic suffix segmented in Thracian personal names by Vladimir Georgiev some fifty years ago. The Bulgarian
scholar compared it with what he calls a “Hetto-Luwian possessive suffix”
-al- and drew attention to some other parallels. The research into the
Anatolian data, particularly recently, has offered valuable insights into
the prehistory and functions of the suffix(es), and that, by default, justifies
a re-visitation of the prehistory of the Cisalpine Celtic patronymic
formations in -al-.
Indoevropejskoie yazykoznanije i klassičeskaja filologija 28, 2024
The article considers various etymological approaches applied in Iranian studies to the analysis ... more The article considers various etymological approaches applied in Iranian studies to the analysis of Ossetic qwaz, qæwaz | γæwanz ‘doe’. It has apparent parallels in other Iranian languages as in Sogdian γ’wzn ‘deer’ or Middle Persian gw’zn’ ‘deer, doe’, cf. also the hapax gavasna- in Avesta. More than a century of research has offered a number of formally compatible — and sometimes identical — reconstructions of the under-lying Common Iranian etymon. They may be quite different in details, however. These etymologies are critically evaluated in the paper in view of the current progress in Indo-Iranian and Indo-European studies.
Palaeohispanica , 2023
The recently published Die vorrömische einheimische Toponymie des antiken Hispanien surveys vario... more The recently published Die vorrömische einheimische Toponymie des antiken Hispanien surveys various hypotheses regarding the prehistory of the place-name Τουκρίς and does not come to any definitive conclusion. If in fact it is Celtic in origins, there are several possibilities for its linguistic analysis. The paper tentatively suggest its derivation from PIE *teuh 2-'to swell, be strong' , a prospect which has already been considered on the level of root etymology, and furnishes the analysis with a possible morphological elucidation. The toponym is perceived as a derivative in *-k-from this PIE root enlarged with *-r-, therefore (descriptively) *teuh 2-k-r-. This pattern is found in other IE languages, while in Celtic (and elsewhere) enlargement inn from the same *teuh 2-k-are well attested. The reference to the meaning of the PIE root also allows us to deal with the semantics of the place-name, which is localised only roughly.
Izvestiâ Rossijskoj akademii nauk, 2022
Abstract. The article offers a new approach for the analysis of Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘sperm’ and c... more Abstract. The article offers a new approach for the analysis of Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘sperm’ and comments on the pre-history of its derivative myggag / muggag ‘semen’, ‘genus’, etc. The undertaken study of various
versions of the fragment of the Nart epic where the word myg is uniquely used allowed the authors to consider various strategies of its euphemisation, which was fruitful for defining its original meaning. Ossetian myg can be consistently traced back to the Common Iranian etymon going back to PIE *meuk- ‘to release’, etc., cf. Lat. mucus ‘snot’, Greek μύξα ‘slime, mucus’. It is possible also to consider it among other words going back to Iranian *mau- : mū- ‘to be wet, moisten’ and ‘move’: the paper does not differentiate between these two meanings, for which an explanation is provided. It is argued that Osset. myræg ‘first filtrate obtained by brewing the beer’ is the derivative in *-ra- from this Iranian verb, and some other Ossetian and Iranian lexemes which belong (or might belong) here are also considered. The study questions the commonly accepted reconstruction of Scythian *muka ‘sperm’, ‘semen’, ‘genus’ on the basis of the personal name Μουγισαγος, while traditional utilization of Ossetic lexemes for interpretation of Thracian anthroponyms with muca- is considered misleading.
Indoevropejskoie yazykoznanije i klassičeskaja filologija , 2023
The paper looks at a number of geographic names attested in and/or associated with the territory ... more The paper looks at a number of geographic names attested in and/or associated with the territory of modern Slovakia which have been considered linguistically Celtic in recent literature. The first part of it deals with the toponym ιγγόνη (probably *Singō) attested only in Ptolemy. Although V. Blažek (2020) has claimed a Celtic etymology for it, it is argued that the suggested analysis contradicts the rules of historical Celtic grammar. Moreover, the toponym is normally located in the area with a highly disputable presence of linguistically Celtic geographic names, even though archaeological remains traditionally associated with “Celts” are well known in the region. In view of the available data ιγγόνη may tentatively be associated with the Dacian layer of toponomy, also taking into consideration that the “Dacian-Celtic horizon” has been established for the area by archaeologists. This linguistic attribution should be treated with extreme caution, of course, due to our state of knowledge of Dacian, but ιγγόνη’s linguistic Celticity, at least within approaches already suggested, should be denied definitely. The second part of the contribution critically surveys the attempt to see in Orava a linguistically Celtic hydronym. This suggestion has been criticised briefly in Falileyev 2014: 42, but as references to the Celticity of the river-name still appear in academic publications, this required a revisit. It is shown that the suggested Celtic etymology, which takes into consideration data of Continental hydronymy (cf. modern l’Avre, l’Evre or l’Arvan) and Insular Celtic vocabulary (e.g., W. erw ‘acre, field’), is difficult from the linguistic standpoint, and this attempt also contains a number of serious misinterpretations. Although the area of the river-basin is known for its archaeological “Celticity”, there are no reasons to make a claim for any linguistic Celticity of the area, and the arguments on the contrary provided by the advocate of the hypothesis are basically irrelevant. Moreover, it has been argued (cf. Falileyev 2014: 39-46) that in Eastern Europe there are no traces of linguistically Celtic hydronymy, at least unquestionably, and that river names attested in late sources only, cannot be Celtic. Thus Nuduna formally allows a Celtic analysis, but here we deal with “the long arm of coincidence”, to use the coinage of P. Sims-Williams (2006). The recently offered Celtic treatment of hydronyms Kubrá and Gardubarto / Gardubartu are also linguistically erroneous, and those should also be excluded from the list of Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz of Slovakia.
Palaeohispanica. Revista sobre lenguas y culturas de la Hispania Antigua
The contribution deals with a number of areas in ancient Europe where the epichoric languages are... more The contribution deals with a number of areas in ancient Europe where the epichoric languages are predominantly and primarily onomastic. After a brief consideration of certain theoretical problems, it starts off with a survey of the “Ligurian” set of questions and then moves to the vast region which has been formally considered a domain of the “Illyrian” language. The paper discusses the available data and reviews anthroponymic provinces traditionally selected in this area as well as geographical names, also going beyond the traditional borders of the “Illyrian” space.
Studia Celto-Slavica, 2006
Celtic presence in the territory of what is now the Ukraine has been studied from different stand... more Celtic presence in the territory of what is now the Ukraine has been studied from different standpoints. Most considerable results have been achieved by archaeologists. Since the first finds of La Tène artefacts as early as 1844 much has been unearthed from Ukrainian soil to prove the fact that the western parts of the country were indeed inhabited by Celtic tribes. As archaeologists maintain, the earliest indications of Celtic material presence in Transcarpathia can be traced to the V-IV c. BC. Penetration of Celts in the area, however, begins only in the later part of the III century; see a useful summary by V. Bidzilja and M. Schukin in Slavjane i ich sosedi (Moscow 1993), 67-84. Further east Celtic influence can be traced in the so-called “La Tènized” archaeological cultures spread as far as the Dnepr (see e.g., V. Eremenko, ‘Keltskaja vual’ i Zarubinetskaja Kultura (St. Petersburg 1997); but note also S. Pachkova in Stratum Plus (2004/4), 74–87). The linguistic aspects of Celti...
Llawlyfr Hen Gymraeg Rhagair v I : Rhagymadrodd i'r Testunau Hen Gymraeg NAWFED GANRIF Chad 2. Ce... more Llawlyfr Hen Gymraeg Rhagair v I : Rhagymadrodd i'r Testunau Hen Gymraeg NAWFED GANRIF Chad 2. Ceir y testun hwn, a elwir hefyd yn Gofnod Surexit (Surexit Memorandum), yn Llyfr Sant Chad, a elwir yn ogystal yn Llyfr Teilo, neu'n Efengylau Caerlwytgoed. Yn ôl K. Jackson (LHEB 42-46), ysgrifennwyd Chad 2 yn yr wythfed ganrif, ond awgrymodd D. Jenkins a M. Owen i'r testun gael ei ysgrifennu yn y cyfnod 830-850. 1 Mae dyddiadau eraill wedi'u cynnig hefyd: dechrau'r nawfed ganrif, 2 a thua 800. 3 Mae'r testun wedi denu digon o sylw ysgolheigaidd, a cheir golygiadau gan Gwenogvryn Evans a J. Rhŷs, gan J. Morris Jones, a chan W. M. Lindsay. Yma, defnyddir golygiad D. Jenkins a M. Owen. 4 Mae'r llawysgrif hefyd yn cynnwys rhai darnau eraill o Hen Gymraeg. Siartrau byrion mewn cymysgedd o Ladin a Hen Gymraeg yw Chad 3 a Chad 4, sy'n dyddio o ail hanner y nawfed ganrif. 5 Nid oes golygiad safonol o Chad 6 (diwedd y nawfed ganrif/dechrau'r ddegfed), testun mwy cymhleth sy'n rhoi ffiniau maenor yn ymyl Llandybïe. Yn olaf, mae dau air Hen Gymraeg yn Chad 7, testun y mae ei ddyddiad yn ddadleuol. 6 MC. Ceir glosau Hen Gymraeg ar y testun Lladin De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurrii gan Martianus Capella yn llawysgrif Coleg Corff Crist 153. Maent yn dyddio o'r nawfed ganrif. 7 Golygwyd hwy gan W. Stokes. 8 Mae trafodaeth bwysig ar rai glosau gan P. Schrijver, 9 a golygiad newydd ac ardderchog o'r holl losau Hen Gymraeg yn y llawysgrif gan K. Lemmen. 10 MP. Ceir y darn a adnabyddir fel Mesurau a phwysau (Lladin De mensuris et ponderibus) yn y Liber Commonei, sef Oxoniensis Prior, Bodley Auct. F. 4.32. Mae'r llawysgrif yn un gyfansawdd. 11 Mae'r glosau Hen Gymraeg ar Fesurau a phwysau yn dyddio o ddechrau'r nawfed ganrif. 12 Nemn. Ceir Gwyddor Nennius yn yr un llawysgrif â MP. Gwyddor wneud (a seiliwyd ar wyddor rwnig y Saeson) yw hon o eiddo rhyw Gymro o'r enw Nennius neu Nemnivus 1 'The Welsh Marginalia in the Lichfield Gospels. Part II: The "Surexit" Memorandum', CMCS, 7 (Haf 1984), 91-120. Gellir gweld y llawysgrif ar lein: https://lichfield.as.uky.edu/st-chad-gospels/features. 2 P. Sims-Williams, 'The Uses of Writing in Early Medieval Wales', yn H. Pryce (gol.
Verus convictor, verus academicus. К 70-летию Николая Николаевича Казанского , 2022
УДК 80(082) ББК 80я434 V51 О т в е т с т в е н н ы й р е д а к т о р М. Л. Кисилиер Р е д ко л л ... more УДК 80(082) ББК 80я434 V51 О т в е т с т в е н н ы й р е д а к т о р М. Л. Кисилиер Р е д ко л л е г и я Н.
Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология , 2022
The article deals with isoglosses and parallels in morphology shared by Celtic and Iranian.
Вопросы Ономастики
The new book on the toponymy of Flintshire is notable in several respects, including the scope of... more The new book on the toponymy of Flintshire is notable in several respects, including the scope of the study that goes well beyond the geographical borders of this county. This review addresses the virtues and the shortcomings of the publication. Two academic monographs, several books for a wider audience, and a number of articles had already been devoted to Flintshire’s geographical names. A new study is considered against this background and includes an analysis of the book, its features, and the evaluation of the authors’ contribution to the study of the toponymy of North East Wales. The book covers 801 geographical names of 753 places in Flintshire (Welsh Sir y Fflint) before the administrative reform of 1994. Given that 62% of the toponyms under study (including those that disappeared from modern maps) are Welsh, the review focuses on the analysis of this set of data, with attention to chronological layers and the etymologies of some geographical names, as well as their translat...
Перевод и языковая адаптация в литературных текстах средневековой Европы , 2021
A. Falileyev, The Seven Sages of Rome in Medieval Wales
The paper discusses several aspects of t... more A. Falileyev, The Seven Sages of Rome in Medieval Wales
The paper discusses several aspects of the Middle Welsh Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein preserved in three mediaeval manuscripts. The texts have caused a number of disputes recently and the article evaluates a number of latest hypotheses. It critically analyses the attempts of C. Gadsden to prove that the version preserved in Oxford Jesus College MS. 20, maintained by H. Lewis to be the oldest copy of Chwedleu, was copied from that in Oxford Jesus College MS 111 (“The Red Book of Hergest”). It seems very likely that all three manuscripts contain copies of the ur-text which was transmitted independently. As for the ur-text itself, the author agrees with S. Rodway on its XIV century date without further specifications, and that it is impossible to trace it geographically from the linguistic standpoint. Much space is dedicated to the discussion of the status of the text. Although it is based on the famous The Seven Sages of Rome, which was well known in Latin and vernaculars across Medieval Europe, the Middle Welsh text has been claimed to be a translation or independent retelling and reworking. The modern view on medieval translation in Wales allows applying the umbrella term “adaptation” here. However, H. Lewis also claimed that Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein is one of the first novels written in Welsh. This statement certainly deserves more attention than it has received hereto. One aspect of it concerns important questions of authorship and plagiarism in the Middle Ages, and with this agenda taken into consideration, Lewis’s idea is certainly correct. Moreover, the form used for attribution the story (cf. o weith llywelyn offeiriat’ in Jesus MS 20, 42r, сf. also a later Liber a quodam Llewelin scriptu), suggests the authorship of the priest Llywelyn, rather his role as the interpreter. The incipit of the text contains the verb traethaf: traethu (Yn y mod hwn y treythir o chwedleu seith doetheon rufein), which is also found in Ffordd y Brawd Odrig, also preserved in Llanstephan ms 2 (Llymma y treithir o fford y Brawt Odric), but the reader of the latter text learns that yr hwnn a drossawd Syre Davyd Bychein o Vorgannwc, o arch a damunet Rys ap Thomas vab Einyawn. Two chapters in Chwedleu are not known in any other version of the story and have been claimed to be the original composition of the priest Llywelyn, and one of them (7. Ramus) is edited in this work. Its stylistic peculiarities are discussed in conjunction with those in the “translated” part of the text to show that the style of Chwedleu is consistent throughout, and the research supports the recent thesis of D. Luft (2016) on aspects of dichotomy between “original” and “translated” Middle Welsh prose. All that of course does not preclude us from the search of the version of The Seven Sages of Rome that was used by Llywelyn for the rest of the text; a hitherto unfound version in Latin or English and French may turn out to be his source, as the example of the Irish version teaches us.
Перевод и языковая адаптация в литературных текстах средневековой Европы, 2021
Перевод и языковая адаптация в литературных текстах средневековой Европы. Коллективная монография... more Перевод и языковая адаптация в литературных текстах средневековой Европы. Коллективная монография. / Отв. ред. С. В. Иванов.-СПб.: ИЛИ РАН, 2021.-320 с. ISBN 978-5-6044839-6-1 В сборнике представлены статьи участников проекта РНФ «Перевод и языковая адаптация в литературных текстах средневековой Европы», демонстрирующие различные подходы к проблематике перевода на широком материале многочисленных литературных традиций и разных временных срезов. Сборник также содержит раздел, предлагающий переводы средневековых текстов на современный русский язык. Издание подготовлено при поддержке гранта РНФ № 17-18-01624.
От Залмоксис до Кетцалкоатл : Изследвания в чест на 65-годишнината на доц. д-р Стефан Йорданов, 2020
It is traditionally maintained that the Thracian language had a prefix an- cognate with Greek ἀνά... more It is traditionally maintained that the Thracian language had a prefix an- cognate with Greek ἀνά, ἄν, Goth. ana ‘on, upon’, from PIE *h2en-. The prefix is not attested in inscriptions, and is segmented from place-names only. This model is attested both in ancient (cf. Latin Ad Aquas) and modern (cf. Bulg. На върби) toponymy in various languages, but there are solid grounds to reject its segmentation in Thracian. In the uniquely attested unlocated place-name Ἀνγιςςός the initial an- belongs more likely to the stem, as I. Duridanov suggested in view of the existing comparanda. The toponym Asermos is thought to contain the reconstructed Thracian word for ‘river’ (*sermo-), thus ‘On (the) river’. However, the development *ns > s does not seem to be known in Thracian, and Georgiev, followed by other scholars, also admitted that it could contain a different Thracian prefix ad- (as in Lat. ad-, PIE *h2ed-). This suggestion is also problematic, but in any case Asermos is removed nowadays by many scholars from the list of words with the Thracian prefix an-. The last piece of evidence, An(a)samus traditionally interpreted as ‘On (the river) Asamus’, is provided by three late sources. D. Detschew was convinced that it was a misspelling of the Thracian place-name, and this article suggests that it was a distorted spelling of the Latin coinage *Ad Asamum vel sim. in view of similar examples from the Eastern Balkans, cf. Ἀσίλβα < Ad silva, Ansamensium < *Ad Samensium or Amoutrion < *Ad Mutrium. It is also claimed here that the late Greek sources preserve the correct Thracian settlement-name (Ἀσήμος), which, as expected, coincides with the river-name, and some etymological comments on that are provided. With all the data surveyed it is obvious that the segmentation of the Thracian prefix an- is erroneous.
Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie
Zusammenfassung Dieser Aufsatz behandelt ‚keltisches‘ Material in vier römischen Militärdiplomen.... more Zusammenfassung Dieser Aufsatz behandelt ‚keltisches‘ Material in vier römischen Militärdiplomen. Die genaue Herkunft von dreien dieser Diplome ist unbekannt, sie stehen aber sicher mit der unteren Donau in Verbindung, während das vierte in Dakien (Neuschloß/Gherla, Rumänien) gefunden wurde. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt der Interpretation der sprachlich keltischen Personennamen, die in diesen vier Texten belegt sind, und weitergehende Beobachtungen zu der Mobilität innerhalb des römischen Reiches von Einzelpersonen aus keltischsprachigen Gebieten werden angeführt.
Indoevropejskoie yazykoznanije i klassičeskaja filologija 25 , 1138-1152., 2021
Утверждено к печати Институтом лингвистических исследований РАН Конференция проходит в рамках пос... more Утверждено к печати Институтом лингвистических исследований РАН Конференция проходит в рамках постоянно действующей Школы индоевропейского сравнительно-исторического языкознания при ИЛИ РАН
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Papers by Alexander Falileyev
in the context of some difficult and not properly resolved features of historical Ossetic morphology and syntax. The study of the other lexeme points, inter alia, to contacts with Turkic languages. The research considers an important chronological dimension that acknowledges the sporadic preservation of archaisms in Iron rather than Digor, and tentatively dates the two names for magic beads as going back, correspondingly, to the Old or Middle Iranian period and the times of Alano-Turkic contacts.
in Cisalpine Celtic, and the present paper aims to contribute to the line
of discussion that considers its IE provenance. In addition to the suggestions already referred to in LexLep and elsewhere I will draw attention to the identical-looking patronymic suffix segmented in Thracian personal names by Vladimir Georgiev some fifty years ago. The Bulgarian
scholar compared it with what he calls a “Hetto-Luwian possessive suffix”
-al- and drew attention to some other parallels. The research into the
Anatolian data, particularly recently, has offered valuable insights into
the prehistory and functions of the suffix(es), and that, by default, justifies
a re-visitation of the prehistory of the Cisalpine Celtic patronymic
formations in -al-.
versions of the fragment of the Nart epic where the word myg is uniquely used allowed the authors to consider various strategies of its euphemisation, which was fruitful for defining its original meaning. Ossetian myg can be consistently traced back to the Common Iranian etymon going back to PIE *meuk- ‘to release’, etc., cf. Lat. mucus ‘snot’, Greek μύξα ‘slime, mucus’. It is possible also to consider it among other words going back to Iranian *mau- : mū- ‘to be wet, moisten’ and ‘move’: the paper does not differentiate between these two meanings, for which an explanation is provided. It is argued that Osset. myræg ‘first filtrate obtained by brewing the beer’ is the derivative in *-ra- from this Iranian verb, and some other Ossetian and Iranian lexemes which belong (or might belong) here are also considered. The study questions the commonly accepted reconstruction of Scythian *muka ‘sperm’, ‘semen’, ‘genus’ on the basis of the personal name Μουγισαγος, while traditional utilization of Ossetic lexemes for interpretation of Thracian anthroponyms with muca- is considered misleading.
The paper discusses several aspects of the Middle Welsh Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein preserved in three mediaeval manuscripts. The texts have caused a number of disputes recently and the article evaluates a number of latest hypotheses. It critically analyses the attempts of C. Gadsden to prove that the version preserved in Oxford Jesus College MS. 20, maintained by H. Lewis to be the oldest copy of Chwedleu, was copied from that in Oxford Jesus College MS 111 (“The Red Book of Hergest”). It seems very likely that all three manuscripts contain copies of the ur-text which was transmitted independently. As for the ur-text itself, the author agrees with S. Rodway on its XIV century date without further specifications, and that it is impossible to trace it geographically from the linguistic standpoint. Much space is dedicated to the discussion of the status of the text. Although it is based on the famous The Seven Sages of Rome, which was well known in Latin and vernaculars across Medieval Europe, the Middle Welsh text has been claimed to be a translation or independent retelling and reworking. The modern view on medieval translation in Wales allows applying the umbrella term “adaptation” here. However, H. Lewis also claimed that Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein is one of the first novels written in Welsh. This statement certainly deserves more attention than it has received hereto. One aspect of it concerns important questions of authorship and plagiarism in the Middle Ages, and with this agenda taken into consideration, Lewis’s idea is certainly correct. Moreover, the form used for attribution the story (cf. o weith llywelyn offeiriat’ in Jesus MS 20, 42r, сf. also a later Liber a quodam Llewelin scriptu), suggests the authorship of the priest Llywelyn, rather his role as the interpreter. The incipit of the text contains the verb traethaf: traethu (Yn y mod hwn y treythir o chwedleu seith doetheon rufein), which is also found in Ffordd y Brawd Odrig, also preserved in Llanstephan ms 2 (Llymma y treithir o fford y Brawt Odric), but the reader of the latter text learns that yr hwnn a drossawd Syre Davyd Bychein o Vorgannwc, o arch a damunet Rys ap Thomas vab Einyawn. Two chapters in Chwedleu are not known in any other version of the story and have been claimed to be the original composition of the priest Llywelyn, and one of them (7. Ramus) is edited in this work. Its stylistic peculiarities are discussed in conjunction with those in the “translated” part of the text to show that the style of Chwedleu is consistent throughout, and the research supports the recent thesis of D. Luft (2016) on aspects of dichotomy between “original” and “translated” Middle Welsh prose. All that of course does not preclude us from the search of the version of The Seven Sages of Rome that was used by Llywelyn for the rest of the text; a hitherto unfound version in Latin or English and French may turn out to be his source, as the example of the Irish version teaches us.
in the context of some difficult and not properly resolved features of historical Ossetic morphology and syntax. The study of the other lexeme points, inter alia, to contacts with Turkic languages. The research considers an important chronological dimension that acknowledges the sporadic preservation of archaisms in Iron rather than Digor, and tentatively dates the two names for magic beads as going back, correspondingly, to the Old or Middle Iranian period and the times of Alano-Turkic contacts.
in Cisalpine Celtic, and the present paper aims to contribute to the line
of discussion that considers its IE provenance. In addition to the suggestions already referred to in LexLep and elsewhere I will draw attention to the identical-looking patronymic suffix segmented in Thracian personal names by Vladimir Georgiev some fifty years ago. The Bulgarian
scholar compared it with what he calls a “Hetto-Luwian possessive suffix”
-al- and drew attention to some other parallels. The research into the
Anatolian data, particularly recently, has offered valuable insights into
the prehistory and functions of the suffix(es), and that, by default, justifies
a re-visitation of the prehistory of the Cisalpine Celtic patronymic
formations in -al-.
versions of the fragment of the Nart epic where the word myg is uniquely used allowed the authors to consider various strategies of its euphemisation, which was fruitful for defining its original meaning. Ossetian myg can be consistently traced back to the Common Iranian etymon going back to PIE *meuk- ‘to release’, etc., cf. Lat. mucus ‘snot’, Greek μύξα ‘slime, mucus’. It is possible also to consider it among other words going back to Iranian *mau- : mū- ‘to be wet, moisten’ and ‘move’: the paper does not differentiate between these two meanings, for which an explanation is provided. It is argued that Osset. myræg ‘first filtrate obtained by brewing the beer’ is the derivative in *-ra- from this Iranian verb, and some other Ossetian and Iranian lexemes which belong (or might belong) here are also considered. The study questions the commonly accepted reconstruction of Scythian *muka ‘sperm’, ‘semen’, ‘genus’ on the basis of the personal name Μουγισαγος, while traditional utilization of Ossetic lexemes for interpretation of Thracian anthroponyms with muca- is considered misleading.
The paper discusses several aspects of the Middle Welsh Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein preserved in three mediaeval manuscripts. The texts have caused a number of disputes recently and the article evaluates a number of latest hypotheses. It critically analyses the attempts of C. Gadsden to prove that the version preserved in Oxford Jesus College MS. 20, maintained by H. Lewis to be the oldest copy of Chwedleu, was copied from that in Oxford Jesus College MS 111 (“The Red Book of Hergest”). It seems very likely that all three manuscripts contain copies of the ur-text which was transmitted independently. As for the ur-text itself, the author agrees with S. Rodway on its XIV century date without further specifications, and that it is impossible to trace it geographically from the linguistic standpoint. Much space is dedicated to the discussion of the status of the text. Although it is based on the famous The Seven Sages of Rome, which was well known in Latin and vernaculars across Medieval Europe, the Middle Welsh text has been claimed to be a translation or independent retelling and reworking. The modern view on medieval translation in Wales allows applying the umbrella term “adaptation” here. However, H. Lewis also claimed that Chwedleu Seith Doethon Rufein is one of the first novels written in Welsh. This statement certainly deserves more attention than it has received hereto. One aspect of it concerns important questions of authorship and plagiarism in the Middle Ages, and with this agenda taken into consideration, Lewis’s idea is certainly correct. Moreover, the form used for attribution the story (cf. o weith llywelyn offeiriat’ in Jesus MS 20, 42r, сf. also a later Liber a quodam Llewelin scriptu), suggests the authorship of the priest Llywelyn, rather his role as the interpreter. The incipit of the text contains the verb traethaf: traethu (Yn y mod hwn y treythir o chwedleu seith doetheon rufein), which is also found in Ffordd y Brawd Odrig, also preserved in Llanstephan ms 2 (Llymma y treithir o fford y Brawt Odric), but the reader of the latter text learns that yr hwnn a drossawd Syre Davyd Bychein o Vorgannwc, o arch a damunet Rys ap Thomas vab Einyawn. Two chapters in Chwedleu are not known in any other version of the story and have been claimed to be the original composition of the priest Llywelyn, and one of them (7. Ramus) is edited in this work. Its stylistic peculiarities are discussed in conjunction with those in the “translated” part of the text to show that the style of Chwedleu is consistent throughout, and the research supports the recent thesis of D. Luft (2016) on aspects of dichotomy between “original” and “translated” Middle Welsh prose. All that of course does not preclude us from the search of the version of The Seven Sages of Rome that was used by Llywelyn for the rest of the text; a hitherto unfound version in Latin or English and French may turn out to be his source, as the example of the Irish version teaches us.