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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A Vacation to Indo-Europe, Wherever That Is

I've expressed my delight with the work being done over at Bradshaw of the Future, the blog that can make something as abstract as Indo-European seem meaningful. In a previous post, I even noted a few especially good posts, one of which etymologically linked the Hindu goddess Parvati with the Scandinavian-derived "fjord," a term for glacially carved, water-filled valleys. (It's a match-up I still find boggling, these two.) I even commented on the Bradshaw post itself, noting that I liked seeing verbal linkages between languages that come from two areas that exist on opposite ends of the chunk of earth that inherited Indo-European word parts.

It has since happened again: The February 7 post linked Hindu bigwig Shiva and the Gaelic dancing term "céilidh." That may even be closer to opposite ends of the landsmass.

1 comment:

  1. Actually, Bradshaw of the Future made quite a clever link between Shiva and céilidh, the god being notorious for his proclivity for the dance. One often sees statues of him in the dancing pose, usually dancing atop a victim, some unfortunate who has incurred the wrath of the Lord of Destruction AND Dance … BOTF must be commended for his genuinely well-read erudition! Huzzah!

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