On Monday, November 26, 2001, at 05:21 PM, georgemw@speakeasy.net wrote:
On 23 Nov 2001, at 19:13, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
Pecunia, the latin word for money, comes from the Etruscian pecu, meaning, cow.
Cheers, RAH
And of course the German word for money is Gelt, which means Gold.
German is but one of _many_ descendants of Proto-Indo-European. My favorite dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary, has extensive etymologies tracing to PIE. Note that often the words have Greek and Latin cognates, meaning in most cases an etymology distinct from German. Lots of English, Norse, Dutch, and German words have the "gl" sound: glitter, glisten, glimmer, gleaming, gloaming, gloss, glow, glower, gold, guild, guilder, gall, cholera, even Sanskrit words. Left as an exercise: the PIE origins of "mark" (another common word for a unit of money), "dollar" (ditto), and "crown." For extra credit, "peso," "peseta," and variants. For extra extra credit, "florin." Here's the entry: http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE158.html ENTRY: ghel-2 DEFINITION: To shine; with derivatives referring to colors, bright materials, gold (probably yellow metal), and bile or gall. Oldest form *hel-, becoming *ghel- in centum languages. Derivatives include gold, arsenic, melancholy, Hare Krishna, gleam, glimpse, and glide. I. Words denoting colors. 1. Suffixed form *ghel-wo-. yellow, from Old English geolu, yellow, from Germanic *gelwaz. 2. Suffixed variant form *ghl-ro-. chloro-; chlorite1, from Greek khlros, green, greenish yellow. 3. Suffixed variant form *ghlo-wo-. chloasma, from Greek khloos (< *khlo-wo-s), greenish color. 4. O-grade form *ghol-. podzol, from Russian zola, ashes (from their color). 5. Suffixed form *ghel-i-. Hare Krishna, Harijan, from Sanskrit hari-, tawny yellow. 6. Possibly suffixed zero-grade form *gh-wo- in Latin fulvus, tawny (with dialectal f- as in fel, gall): griseofulvin. II. Words denoting gold. 1. Suffixed zero-grade form *gh-to-. a. gold, from Old English gold, gold; b. gild1, from Old English gyldan, to gild, from Germanic denominative verb *gulthjan; c. guilder, gulden, from Middle Dutch gulden, golden; d. gowan, from Middle English gollan, yellow flower, possibly from a source akin to Old Norse gullinn, golden. ad all from Germanic *gultham, gold. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *ghol-to-. zloty, from Polish zoto, gold. 3. Suffixed full-grade form *ghel-no-. arsenic, from Syriac zarnk, orpiment, from Middle Iranian *zarnik-, from Old Iranian *zarna-, golden. III. Words denoting bile. 1. Suffixed o-grade form *ghol-no-. gall1, from Old English gealla, gall, from Germanic *galln-, bile. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *ghol--. chole-, choler, cholera; acholia, melancholy, from Greek khol, bile. 3. Suffixed full-grade form *ghel-n-. felon2, from Latin fel, bile. IV. A range of Germanic words (where no preforms are given, the words are late creations). 1. gleam, from Old English glm, bright light, gleam, from Germanic *glaimiz. 2. glimpse, from Middle English glimsen, to glimpse, from a source akin to Middle High German glimsen, to gleam. 3. glint, from Middle English glent, a glint, and glenten, to shine, from a source akin to Swedish dialectal glinta, to shine. 4. glimmer, from Middle English glimeren, to glimmer, from a source akin to Swedish glimra, glimmer. 5. glitter, from Old Norse glitra, to shine. 6. glitz, from Old High German glzan, to sparkle. 7. glisten, from Old English glisnian, to shine. 8. glister, from Middle Dutch glinsteren or Middle Low German glisteren, to shine. 9. glass, glaze, glazier, from Old English glfs, glass, from Germanic *glasam, glass. 10. glare1, from Middle English glaren, to glitter, stare, from a source akin to Middle Low German glaren, to glisten, from Germanic *glaz-. 11. gloss1, from a source perhaps akin to Icelandic glossi, a spark. 12. glance2, from Old High German glanz, bright. 13. gleg, from Old Norse glvggr, clear-sighted. 14. glad1, from Old English glfd, shining, joyful, from Germanic *gladaz. 15. glee; gleeman, from Old English glo, sport, merriment, from Germanic *gleujam. 16a. gleed, from Old English gld, ember; b. glogg, from Old Norse glodh, ember. Both a and b from Germanic *gl-di-. 17a. glow, from Old English glwan, to glow; b. glower, from Middle English gloren, to gleam, stare, probably from a source akin to Norwegian dialectal glora, to gleam, stare; c. gloat, from a source perhaps akin to Old Norse glotta, to smile (scornfully). ac all from Germanic *gl-. 18. gloaming, from Old English glm, twilight, from Germanic *gl-m-. 19. Possibly distantly related to this root is Germanic *gldan, to glide. a. glide, from Old English gldan, to slip, glide; b. glissade, from Old French glier, to glide; c. glitch, from Old High German gltan, to glide; d. glede, from Old English glida, kite (< gliding, hovering bird), from derivative Germanic *glidn-. 20. glib, from a source possibly akin to Middle Low German glibberich, slippery. (Pokorny 1. hel- 429.) --Tim May "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship." --Alexander Fraser Tyler