Parahistoria indoevropiane e fjalës shqipe për ‘motrën’
Indo-European Prehistory of the Albanian Word for 'Sister'

Summary/Abstract: Alb. motër (dialectal and Old Albanian also motrë, motërë) is universally considered to be a direct reflex of the Proto-Indo-European word for ‘mother’ – *meh2ter- (Sanskr. mā́tr̥-,Gr. mḗtēr, Lat. māter, Slav. *mati *matere etc.). The difference in meaning is explained either as far-reaching semantic change – possibly including intermediate steps (e.g., ‘mother’ > ‘any female relative’ > ‘sister’) – or as the product of changes in kinship terminology caused by extra-linguistic developments (e.g., it has been assumed that the older sister fulfilled the role of the mother). However, such a radical semantic change does not appear likely; similarly, there is no reason to assume any general restructuring of kinship terminology, given that other inherited kinship terms surface precisely with their expected meaning (vjehërr ‘father-in-law’< PIE *sweḱuro-, nip ‘grandson/nephew’ < PIE *nepot-). Thus, in the present study – which draws on a little-known idea by Eric Hamp – Alb. motër is analysed not as a reflex but as an early derivative of the IE word for ‘mother’. Namely, we are dealing either with a possessive adjective *meh2t-(e)r-o- ‘having the [same] mother’ or with a relational adjective *meh2t-(e)r-o- ‘of the [same] mother’. The feminine form of such an adjective (*meh2t-(e)r-eh2> *māterā) may have been lexicalized as ‘woman having the same mother’ / ‘woman of the same mother’ and replaced the inherited word for ‘sister’ (PIE *swesor-). Such lexical replacements are widespread; cf. Greek adelph(e)ós ‘brother’ < *sm̥-gʷelbʰ-es-o- ‘of the same womb’ or Spanish hermano ‘brother’ < Lat. germānus ‘real, *from the [same] seed’.

• Details
• Contents