The insolent desolation of solitude

Lithuanian – the most archaic Indo-European, to say nothing of Balto-Slavic, tongue – is the only language that calls the world pasaulis '(what lies) under the Sun'. Polish is the only language that calls the moon Księżyc 'the Little Prince', a subtle reference to the 'Great Prince', whose light it reflects. Russian is the only language that calls the light by its name, свет [svet], a word that – in all other Slavic languages (and beyond) – has shifted in meaning to exclusively denote the 'world', assigning to 'light' a series of derivatives, ranging from svetlo through svetlina to svetloba, thus creating the impression that Earth was born before the Sun!