Светлой памяти Нины Макаровны Чередеевой-


Salvation Lies in Language

Armenian կիրակի [kirakí] 'Sunday' comes from Greek κυριακή [kyriakí] '(day) of the Lord', replacing the earlier միաշաբաթի [miašabatʰí] 'one (day after the) Shabbat'. Armenian շաբաթ [šapʰɑ́tʰ] – which reproduces Hebrew שבת [šabát] '(day of) rest; holiday' – denotes both Saturday and the week and is embedded in the name of every weekday, except Friday, which in Armenian is called ուրբաթ [ur'pʰɑtʰ], from Syriac ܥܪܘܒܬܐ [ʕrūḇtā] 'eve (of the Shabbat)', cognate both with Hebrew ערב [ʕēreḇ] 'eve(ning)' and Pre-Islamic Arabic عروبه [ʕarūḇa] 'Friday', the latter itself sharing the same root with extant Arabic غروب [ğurūb] 'sunset'. Farsi شنبه [šanbe] 'Saturday' – from an earlier شنبد [šanbad] going back to Hebrew שבת [šabát] – has germinated into the whole palette of Farsi weekdays: یک‌شنبه [yekšanbe] 'one (day after) Saturday; Sunday'; دو‌شنبه [došanbe] 'two (days after) Saturday; Monday'; سه‌شنبه [sešanbe] 'three (days after) Saturday; Tuesday'; چهار‌شنبه [čaharšanbe] 'four (days after) Saturday; Wednesday'; and پنج‌شنبه [pand͡ʒšanbe] 'five (days after) Saturday; Thursday', Arabic-loaned جمعه [d͡ʒomʔe] '(the day of) gathering (for prayer); Friday' being the only exception to the series. The fact that Greek Δευτέρα 'Monday' literally means the 'second (day)' and both Slavic sreda and German Mittwoch 'Wednesday' denote the 'middle' (of the 'week', in the case of German) speaks volumes of the long-slumbering Semitic – namely, Levantine – presence in the cultures of the Old World. Greek παρασκευή [paraskeví] '(day of) preparation; Friday' is perhaps the single most compelling testimony thereto.

Language is the only lever capable of lifting the sinking ship of our Collective Unconscious!

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-This site owes its conception to Sarah Frantz-
-Ce site doit sa naissance à Elian Carsenat--