Светлой памяти Нины Макаровны Чередеевой-



وَاليَمينُ أَضحَت إيماناً

What Human Language Teaches Us

The major virtue one acquires from the study of human language is humility through wisdom. Yet, the first lesson human language teaches us is that abstract concepts do not exist. If you cannot see, hear, touch, smell or taste it, dig deeper until – as in archaeology – you hit the bedrock. In *humility*, the bedrock is Latin *humus* 'earth' – whence also *human*. In *wisdom*, the root *wis-* denotes 'knowledge', whence the unsurprising German equivalent – **Weis**heit. 'Knowledge', however, itself being an abstract concept, digging deeper leads us to a common Indo-European root, *weyd-* 'to see', which has developed into Latin and Slavonic *vid-*, branching off with the meaning 'to know' into Slavonic *věd-* and Germanic *wit-* – whence, among others, English *[un]**wit**[t][ing][ly]*. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, the books containing the 'knowledge' – the same *veda*, which, in Slovak, among other Slavonic languages, means 'science' (from Latin *scio*, reincarnated in Romanian *știu* 'I know' – whence *con**sci**ence* '[awareness coming] with-knowledge'). Humility through wisdom – groundedness through knowledge!

✉️-ilv@inlinguaveritas.org
-This site owes its conception to Sarah Frantz-
-Ce site doit sa naissance à Elian Carsenat--