The Significance of 'Minor' Languages

Latin *scio* 'I know' - which had long ago disappeared off the face of the Earth, leaving behind the precious concept of *science* - has survived almost unscathed in one single case: Romanian *știu* 'I know'. To the South of Romania lies Bulgaria with her old, in-no-lesser-measure revealing tongue. In that other 'minor', Slavonic language, *правя* [prāvya] merely means 'I do' - a word, one would say, as unimpressive as any. In the same exact way Romanian *fac* 'I do' leads to the logic behind such words, as *fact*, *faculty*, *facile*, *facility* and *feasibility*, Bulgarian *правя* [prāvya] 'I do' leads right to the roots of human thinking: *прав-* [prav-] denotes the 'right [hand]' - the source of all 'right', 'rightful', 'righteous' things. It lies at the core of many a process denoting - besides the latter 'politically correct' concepts - those of 'steering' (cf. Russian *править* [prāvit-]), 'administering' (cf. Rus. *управлять* [upravlyát'], 'governing' (cf. Rus. *правительство* [pravītel'stvo]), etc...