Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed., 2014, 50(2):65-68 | DOI: 10.17221/212/2013-CJGPB

Grain legume crop history among Slavic nations traced using linguistic evidenceOriginal Paper

Aleksandar MIKIĆ
Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia

With Proto-Slavic and other Proto-Indo-European homelands close to each other and on the routes of domestication of the first cultivated grain legumes, now known as pulses, one may assume that the ancestors of the modern Slavic nations knew field beans, peas or lentils quite well. The main goal of this short note was to examine the origin and the diversity of the words denoting field bean, pea and lentil in most of the modern Slavic languages. The common ancestor of all modern Slavic words denoting field bean is the Proto-Slavic *bobŭ, derived from the Proto-Indo-European *bhabh-, bhabhā, also denoting field bean and meaning literally something swelling. The Proto-Slavic root *gorhŭ, denoting pea, is the origin of the words denoting pea in all the Slavic languages and was derived from the Proto-Indo-European *ghArs-, ghers-2, that denoted a leguminous plant in general. The words denoting lentil in the modern Slavic languages form two etymologically distinct groups. The first one owes the origin to the Proto-Slavic *lętjā, also denoting lentil and deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *lent-, *lent-s-, with the same meaning. Another group has its origin in the Proto-Slavic *sočevicа, somehow related to the Proto-Slavic *sòkŭ, denoting juice. This short thesaurus is a testimony of the significant role the most ancient Eurasian grain legumes, such as field bean, pea and lentil, have been playing in the everyday life of the modern Slavic nations.

Keywords: agricultural history; etymology; field bean; lentil; lexicology; pea; Slavic languages

Published: June 30, 2014  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
MIKIĆ A. Grain legume crop history among Slavic nations traced using linguistic evidence. Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed. 2014;50(2):65-68. doi: 10.17221/212/2013-CJGPB.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Andersen H. (2003): Language Contacts in Prehistory: Studies in Stratigraphy. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam. Go to original source...
    2. Anthony D.W. (2007): The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Go to original source...
    3. Bakels C. (1999): Archaeobotanical investigations in the Aisne valley, northern France, from the Neolithic up to the early Middle Ages. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 8: 71-77. Go to original source...
    4. Hovsepyan R., Willcox G. (2008): The earliest finds of cultivated plants in Armenia: evidence from charred remains and crop processing residues in pisé from the Neolithic settlements of Aratashen and Aknashen. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 17 (Suppl 1): S63-S71. Go to original source...
    5. Lockwood W.B. (1977): Indo-European Philology, Historical and Comparative. Hutchinson, London.
    6. Medović A., Mikić A., Ćupina B., Jovanović Ž., Radović S., Nikolić A., Stanisavljević N. (2011): Pisum & ervilia Tetovac - Made in Early Iron Age Leskovac. Part One. Two charred pulse crop storages of the fortified hill fort settlement Hissar in Leskovac, South Serbia. Ratarstvo i povrtarstvo/Field and Vegetable Crops Research, 48: 219-226. Go to original source...
    7. Mikić A. (2009): Words denoting pea (Pisum sativum) in European languages. Pisum Genetics, 41: 29-33.
    8. Mikić A. (2010): Words denoting lentil (Lens culinaris) in European languages. Journal of Lentil Research, 4: 14-19.
    9. Mikić A. (2011): A note on some Proto-Indo-European roots related to grain legumes. Indogermanische Forschungen, 116: 60-71. Go to original source...
    10. Mikić A. (2012): Origin of the words denoting some of the most ancient old world pulse crops and their diversity in modern European languages. PLoSONE, 7: e44512. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Mikić A., Smýkal P. (2009): History of grain legumes cultivation in Europe. Úroda, 11: 41-43. (in Czech)
    12. Mikić-Vragolić M., Mikić A., Ćupina B., Mihailović V., Vasiljević S., Krstić Đ., Vasić M. (2007): Words related to some annual legumes in Slavic and other IndoEuropean languages. Ratarstvo i povrtarstvo/Field and Vegetable Crops Research, 44: 91-96.
    13. Nikolayev S.L. (2007): Indo-European Etymology. The Tower of Babel, an International Etymological Database Project. Available at http://starling.rinet.ru (accessed January 27, 2011).
    14. Pieters A.J. (1927): Green Manuring - Principles and Practice. John Wiley and Sons, London.
    15. Pokorny J. (1959): Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Francke, Bern.
    16. Skok P. (1971): Dictionnaire Etymologique de la Langue Croate ou Serbe, 1 (a-j). JAZU, Zagreb.
    17. Skok P. (1972): Dictionnaire Etymologique de la Langue Croate ou Serbe, 2 (k-poni1). JAZU, Zagreb.
    18. Smýkal P., Kenicer G., Flavell A.J., Corander J., Kosterin O., Redden R.J., Ford R., Coyne C.J., Maxted N., Ambrose M.J., Ellis T.H.N. (2010): Phylogeny, phylogeography and genetic diversity of the Pisum genus. Plant Genetic Resources, 9: 4-18. Go to original source...
    19. Tanno K., Willcox G. (2006): The origins of cultivation of Cicer arietinum L. and Vicia faba L.: early finds from Tell el-Kerkh, north-west Syria, late 10th millennium B.P. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 15: 197-204. Go to original source...
    20. Tolar T., Jacomet S., Velušček A., Čufar K. (2010): Recovery techniques for waterlogged archaeological sediments: a comparison of different treatment methods for samples from Neolithic lake shore settlements. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 19: 53-67. Go to original source...
    21. Vasmer M. (1953): Russisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1 (a-k). Carl Winters Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg.
    22. Vasmer M. (1955): Russisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1 (l-ssuda). Carl Winters Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg.
    23. Vasmer M. (1958): Russisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 1 (sta-y). Carl Winters Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg.
    24. Zeven A.C., Zhukovsky P.M. (1975): Dictionary of Cultivated Plants and Their Centres of Diversity. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen.
    25. Zohary D., Hopf M. (2000): Domestication of Plants in the Old World: the Origin and Spread of Cultivated Plants in West Asia, Europe and the Nile Valley. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content