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The story of Caesar revisited
The story of Caesar revisited

Author(s): Dariusz R. Piwowarczyk
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: etymology; Latin; Indo-European; Caesar; diphthong; monophthongization; spelling; borrowing.

Summary/Abstract: This article investigates the story of the origin and the expanse of the term caesar in the Indo-European languages. A hypothesis on the non-existence of the diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ in Gothic is used to show that the borrowing into Gothic occurred from Greek and renders the Greek spelling practice. Due to additional facts concerning the monophthongization of the diphthong /ai/ in Greek and Latin it is hypothesized that they might already represent not a diphthong but a single vowel. Counter-evidence is also stated, as the precise way of the borrowing still remains unknown.

  • Issue Year: 18/2013
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 105-110
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: English
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