Светлой памяти Нины Макаровны Чередеевой-


-----Солнце языкаLe Soleil du langageشمس اللغةEl Sol del lenguajeThe Sun of Language

Salut, γειά, zdravo...

While both English *hail* 'to greet' and German *heil* 'safe' go back to a common Germanic root with the latter meaning (whence Eng. *heal*, *whole*, *holy*; cf. Ger. *heilen*; *heilsam*; *heilig*), *safe* itself is a borrowing from French *sauf*, which stems from a Latin root that has formed the basis for other English words, such as *save*, *salvation*, *salvage*, *salvo* and *salute* - another loanword from French *salut* 'greeting', originally meaning 'salvation'. The concept of 'greeting' is itself intrinsically associated with that of 'health', 'safety', 'salvation' (cf. Italian *salute*/ *salve* 'hello'). Slavonic languages almost universally attest thereto (the *zdrav-*/ *zdorov-* root clearly denoting the 'health' component): Czech/ Slovak *pozdrav* 'greeting'; Serbian/ Macedonian/ Croatian/ Slovenian *здраво*/*zdravo* and Russian *здравствуй(те)*/ [zdrāvstvuj(te)] (colloquial *здорово* [zdorōvo]), both meaning 'hello' (literally 'be healthy'); Russian *здороваться* [zdorōvat'sja] 'to greet (lit. 'wish health to') someone or each other' and, finally, Bulgarian *здрависване* [zdravisvane] 'handshake'. Greek γειά σας [yiā sas] 'hello' is a shortened version of υγεία σας [iyīa sas] - 'health to you'.

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