LIETUVIŲ LEKSIKOS IR TERMINOLOGIJOS PROBLEMOS

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXIX (1991)

VYTAUTAS VITKAUSKAS

EXCLUSIVE WORD VARIANTS

WITH THE VOWELS a AND u*

There are quite a few word variants with the vowels a and u in Lithuanian, especially in its dialects. Many are presented in the volumes of LKŽ. They all seem to fall into several groups.

I. This is probably the simplest group, in which a: u occurs through onomatopoeia. First of all, it includes various verbs and sound-imitative words, in which variants with the vowel a suggest a somewhat softer sound, a lighter or slower action, while those with the vowel u suggest a more forceful one: kābeldoti || kubeldóti, dadnóti || dudnóti ‘to speak, to babble’, kraménti || kruménti ‘to cough’, krapinėti || krupinėti ‘to walk about, to walk with difficulty’, raresỹs || ruresỹs ‘a rumbling sound’, rarėti || rurėti ‘to rumble’, stapalinėti || stupalinėti ‘to wander about’, and so on (about a hundred such examples have been recorded). This is simply a means of enlivening the action. One reservation: the examples come from different dialects, and only some are used in any one dialect—some with -a-, others with -u-: påkšt || pùkšt, šmåkštelėti || šmùkštelėti, etc.; aliōti ‘to shout’ is used in many parts of Lithuania, while uliōti is used in the Kupiškis region: ul'ōje p'iemanas, r'ē'k'e Slm.

A few rather unusual word variants are associated with this group. You all know that E. Fraenkel links the variant rūpūžė ‘Bufalo vulgaris; a kind of swearword’ to rāpal ioti ‘to crawl’ and related forms. In the dialects (among Samogitians and Dzūkians), this clearly has an element of play: rāpūžė || rāpūža is said jokingly, to conceal the swearword from children. Replacing the vowel u with a has a humorous effect and is not systematic, so there is no need to apply phonetic laws here. This is especially clear in the word sabiṅkaulis ‘tailbone’; moreover, among the Samogitians, sabinkė ‘little bottom’ has also been heard. With no regular pattern, by replacing u with a, one can say sabiṅkaulis more openly, while the word sabiṅkė can even be used to joke with children. The same applies to the words maturžė and muturžė ‘watery soup; derogatory: mouth’. Among the Dzūkians, these also have a euphemistic sense: muturžė (→mutnùs, mutinỹs, mùtė) is the original form, somewhat coarser, whereas maturžė is a softer, ‘playful’ form.

II. A substantial group of word variants with a || u arose through the development of Proto-Indo-European syllabic l, m, n, r > into al, am, an, ar || ul, um, un, ur (kaŕkti || kuŕkti, skārti || skūrti → skāris || skūris, karkulỹs || kurkulỹs, skarulỹs || skurulỹs, etc.). Forms that arose in different dialects include gāmalas || gùmulas, gramulỹs ‘lump’ || grumulỹs ‘clod’, ramōti ‘to be calm’ || rumōti ‘to lie quietly’, saluva ‘island’ BB ||

* The article is based on a paper presented at the 1st International Conference on Baltic Studies.

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sulava N (Fraenkel links the word salà with salėti; cf. salėti, salvėti and sulà, sulėti). Several roots are intertwined here, but no dialect has the complete derivational chains—only isolated facts have survived. This intertwining gives rise to new words, e.g. mamà || mumà || momà ‘mother’.

Today, most linguists regard the Žemaitian pronunciation mun-, num- as a regular phonetic change (even V. Toporov changed his view in “The Prussian Language Dictionary,” discussing kamanas) (Топоров, 1980, 200). It seems to me that something more significant is involved here; I have devoted a separate discussion to it because in many dialects this cannot be explained by any rule (among the Raseiniai speakers and western Žemaitians, am, an do not change within one syllable, but do so across syllables—and not in all Žemaitian dialects). The left bank of the Nemunas (Karklė, even Gāstos—LKŽ card file, recorded by V. Kurtinaitis), the western Žemaitians, and the southern Žemaitian Raseiniai speakers especially offer no grounds for positing a phonetic rule. We have forgotten Ch. Stang’s idea that mun may derive from the Indo-European syllabic *l, m, n, r (Stang, 1966, 34–35). Indeed, why do we not argue over any phonetic peculiarity in skārti and skūrti, yet argue over the analogous mun-, num- (Zinkevičius, 1966, 299; Grinaveckis, 1960, 77; Grinaveckis, 1973, 172; Vanagienė, Vitkauskas, 1969, 212–214)? After all, in both cases a and u alternate quite evenly: some dialects have one form, others a different one.

III. A fairly large group of word variants with a || u is associated with the entry of the a grade of Baltic vowel alternation into the u grade in different dialects: ganiōti ‘to drive’ Nm, Lp || guniōti Auk, Lnkv || goniōti Dbk (also gāiniōti || guiniōti), plajoti End || plujōti ‘to scurry’ (also plaujōti), lajùs || lujùs ‘barking rapidly’ (sulūti, sulūjo), gākčioti || gōkčioti Rs || gukčiōti ‘to hiccup’ Ds, Skd, grajōti ‘to rummage’ || grujōti Sug, gramañtas || grumañtas Pnd, Škn (gromañtas Krš), ramùs || rumùs (coastal Žemaitian) || romùs, sravùs || sruvùs || srovùs; sravénti || sruvénti || srovénti.

IV. Most of these words, with vowels a and u occurring exclusively in alternation, apparently lack sonorants and are not onomatopoeic either. For example: až and už, sa || su; ūpė and the traditional dialect form used by elderly speakers in Minapiai, Telšiai District, m'ėnapė (in the Curonian principality of Keklys—as if confirming Blesė and Mažiulis’s claim about the closeness of Curonian and Prussian; cf. Prussian ape ‘river’); ābas Smn || ūbas Šd; ābašlaitė Smn || ūbašlaitė Švnč, Str; daburys PrL || duburys; dabūrkis Akm || dubūrkis Krš ‘a hollow in a river or lake’, gābalas || gūbulas J, Štk; gabalinis || gubālinis Rdn (gobalinis cō.kros); gabùs || gubùs J, M. Valanč, sugubėti ‘to manage’ Klt; gabėta Ak || gubieta Bsg ‘goddess’, cf. gabijà ‘goddess, sacred fire’; gabštà ‘sheaf’ Kair || gubšnà ‘tuft’ Sl; gābūžas Prk, Rs, J || gubūžas ‘bundle’ Brž, Sg, kābti ‘to die’ Ds, Kp; Mlt || kūbti, kākinti ‘to provide sufficiently’ || kūkinti ‘to feed, give abundantly’, kakorȳt OG421 || kukorȳt ‘the day after tomorrow’ Vrn; kādaras J, Vrd || kūdaras K, Klp, Kin, cf. also skādaras ‘rag’ Ut || skūdaras; kapūrna Lzd || kupūrna ‘mound’ Drsk, Mrk; kasulà ‘bunch’ Lkm || kusulỹs ‘lump’ J || kùsulas; putrà į kusulą sušōka Krš; krajōti ‘to throw’ prš || krujōti ‘to pull out’ Rdm; katulỹs ‘tickling’ Slnt, Dr || kutulỹs; lazgėti ‘to flutter’ Krt || luzgėti ‘to quiver, move’ Tl, Slnt; lāginti Žem. J ‘to address’ || luginti ‘to entice’ B; lākatas || lùkutas ‘rag’ Ll, Up, Lkv, Kltń; lāpatas ‘rag’ M. Valanč || lūpatas Žem.; lagaminas ‘a box for packing things for a trip, luggage’ || lugaminas Q397 ‘food supplies’ || lūgumas J; latùs ‘short and stout’ Rgv || lūtis ‘a short-

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legged stout person’ Žem.; magėti ‘to want’ || mugėti (in dā.rbū nā.t mūga ‘really wants’ Rod, Kargaudai village); maguoti ‘to want’ Vdš, Kvr, Ldk, Vlk || muguoti ‘to be passionate’ Žem., J; maklas ‘simpleton’ Skp, Kp || muklā ‘a sluggish person, someone who cannot get their bearings’ Ml, Bsg; māsūlas ‘mosquito’ || māsūlas in western Dzūkian || mūsulas in Žemaitian; mązgas || mūzgas Žvr, Nm; pladu̇kė Šts; Ggr || pludunkė || pludungė Žem. ‘a loose woman’; plākė ‘bream’ PrL || plūkė ‘a kind of fish’; plākti ‘to beat’ || plūkti ‘to process flax’; rākti || rūkti ‘the lake is rūnka, rūko, i.e. grows, grew’; rapūkas || ropūtė || rupūtė ‘potato’ Vv, Šv, Jdr – LKA I 161; rāpti ‘to be unwell’ || rūpti ‘to become scabby, have smallpox’; rasnoti ‘to drizzle’ Grg, Grk || rusnoti ‘to flow slowly’ Kv; ratinėti ‘to turn around’ || rutinėti ‘to roll’ Rod, Dv; sālig ‘along with’ J, LD427, Jrb, Rs, Žž, Ad || salīg Stl, Jrb, Slv and sūlig, salēi Jz; stābaras || stūbaras; smaklė ‘a loop in a knot’ J || smuklė ‘a snare: a trap’ Grv, Ln, A. Baran; skabrīs || skubrūs ‘agile, fast’; stagūtė ‘plough; ard’ || stūgė LKA I 105.

There are quite a few examples. The reasons for their emergence are probably as follows:

a) Vowel assimilation or replacement by another vowel: gābulas || gūbulas (gubalinis), kratulys, kapūrna || kupūrna. This is an old phenomenon: cf. Lithuanian nūgara || nugarà || nūgura (Klp) (recorded in Kukuliškiai village only in 1977, unknown to LKŽ; Latvian mugura);

b) A distant connection with the a-grade ablaut: gab-, gob-, gub-, pla-, plo- (plu-);

c) Some words may have acquired u from Indo-European *ō. According to the above-mentioned claim by Stang, as well as Endzelīns and others, “r, l, m, n” before Baltic u (ō) sometimes alternate with Baltic a, e… so they may have arisen through weakening of an originally unstressed o (and n) (Endzelīns, 1951, 53). It may be that stūgė, mūzgas, muguoti, pludunkė, skubrūs, and so on have u from *o: cf. J. Kazlauskas’s (Казлаускас, 1962, 24) and V. Mažiulis’s (Mažiulis, 1970, 16–18) claims concerning the existence of *ō (opposing view: Zinkevičius, 1980, 58–59). Could stūgė (alongside stagūtė), mūzgas Nm, Žvr, and others, as well as several dozen more words, have arisen from that *ō? How else can we explain the many parallel forms with root vowels a and u?

Old loanwords have also contributed to this alternation of a and u, where u: a comes from Slavic *ō: sabata || šūbatà, kravāuninkas || kruvāuninkas (it is wholly implausible that, since K. Alminauskis’s time, kudūras should have been considered a loanword; cf. skādaras || skūduras; kadaryš || skadaryš, etc.; also cf. an analogous case: we regard rumulais as native, but rāmalo­ti || rūmuloti as Germanisms; also skatūlė || skacūlė and skutulė || skučūlė).

Also interesting is the presence of the diphthong -ai- and its analogue -ui- in similar words from different dialects: rāinas || rūinas, rāinyti || rūinyti ‘to be striped’; rāišus || rūisas, rāišī || rūišti (rāiščioti || rūiščioti, rāišis || rūišis), rāižyti || rūižyti, rāikis ‘skirt’ Skdv || rūikis Šv, Vn, Grdm, etc.

This is only the beginning of the research. Such alternation between a and u has long been noticed, but there had never been time to sit down and investigate it. If the matters described here turn out to be something more than nonsense and hot air, they will be studied further. Prof. M. Rudzytė remarked at the 1985 Baltic Studies Conference that similar phenomena also occur in Latvian dialects, e.g. the Augšzemnieki form vonuks ‘in the furrows’, and others.

LITERATŪRA

Endzelīns J. Latviešu valodas gramatika. Rīgā, 1951.

Grinaveckis V. Šiaurės vakarų dünininkų tarmių fonetinės ypatybės ir jų raida // Vilniaus valstybinio pedagoginio instituto Mokslo darbai. 1960. T. 11.

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Grinaveckis V. Žemaičių tarmės istorija. V., 1973.

Kazlauskas J. Lietuvos kalbos istorinė gramatika. V., 1968.

Mažiulis V. Baltų ir kitų indoeuropiečių kalbų santykiai. V., 1970.

Stang Chr. S. Vergleichende Grammatik der Baltischen Sprachen. Oslo-Bergen-Tromso, 1966.

Vanagienė B., Vitkauskas V. Dėl žemaičių mun- ir num- // Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai. 1969. T. 11.

Zinkevicius Z. Lietuvių dialektologija. V., 1966.

Zinkevicius Z. Lietuvių kalbos istorinė gramatika. V., 1980. T. 1.

Казлаускас И. К развитию общебалтийской системы гласных // Вопросы языкознания. 1962. № 4.

Топоров В. Н. Прусский язык / Словарь К. М., 1980.

В. ВИТКАУСКАС

ЭКСКЛЮЗИВНЫЕ ВАРИАНТЫ СЛОВ С ГЛАСНЫМИ A И U

Резюме

В литовском языке существует немало слов с вариантами, различающимися гласными a и u.

Все примеры можно делить на четыре группы:

1. Слова ономатопеического происхождения: dadinōti || dudinōti „говорить“, raresjs || ruresys „грохот“ и др.

2. Слова, где a || u произошло от иде. *l, m, n, r > al, am, an, ar || ul, um, un, ur: gāmatas || gūmulas, kum, klub, ramōti || rumōti „быть спокойным“ и др.

3. Слова, где варианты с корневыми a и u связаны с чередованием корневых гласных a || u || o: ganiōti || gunióti || goniōti „прогонять“, sravùs || srovùs || sruvùs „текучий“ и др.

4. Слова, где a || u, по мнению автора, происходило от древнебалтийского *ō: gabùs || gibùs „способный“, ābas || ūbas „старинная печка“, stagūtė || stūgė „соха“ и др.