Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘Sperm’ and Some Aspects of Common Iranian and Indo-European Reconstruction

Occupation: Head of the Department of Ossetian Philology and General Linguistics
Affiliation: A.A. Tibilov South Ossetian State University
Address: 8 Moskovskaya Str., Tskhinval, 100001, Republic of South Ossetia

Alexander I. Falileyev

Occupation: Leading Researcher
Affiliation: Institute of Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Address: 9 Tuchkov Lane, St. Petersburg, 199053, Russia

Journal name

Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka

Edition

Volume 81 Issue 5

Pages

57-73

Abstract

The article offers a new approach for the analysis of Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘sperm’ and comments on the pre-history of its derivative myggag / muggag ‘semen’, ‘genus’, etc. The undertaken study of various versions of the fragment of the Nart epic where the word myg is uniquely used allowed the authors to consider various strategies of its euphemisation, which was fruitful for defining its original meaning. Ossetian mygcan be consistently traced back to the Common Iranian etymon going back to PIE *meuk- ‘to release’, etc., cf. Lat. mucus ‘snot’, Greek μύξα ‘slime, mucus’. It is possible also to consider it among other words going back to Iranian *mau- : mū- ‘to be wet, moisten’ and ‘move’: the paper does not differentiate between these two meanings, for which an explanation is provided. It is argued that Osset. myræg ‘first filtrate obtained by brewing the beer’ is the derivative in *-ra- from this Iranian verb, and some other Ossetian and Iranian lexemes which belong (or might belong) here are also considered. The study questions the commonly accepted reconstruction of Scythian *muka ‘sperm’, ‘semen’, ‘genus’ on the basis of the personal name Μουγισαγος, while traditional utilization of Ossetic lexemes for interpretation of Thracian anthroponyms with muca- is considered misleading.

Keywords

Ossetian language and folklore, etymology, lexicology, comparative Iranian linguistics, Indo-European studies, linguistic reconstruction

Received

11.11.2022

Publication date

11.11.2022

Number of characters

51219

Cite

GOST	Dzitstsoity Y., Falileyev A. Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘Sperm’ and Some Aspects of Common Iranian and Indo-European Reconstruction // Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka – 2022. – V. 81. – Issue 5 C. 57-73 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://izv-oifn.ru/S160578800022747-7-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S160578800022747-7
MLA	Dzitstsoity, Yuriy A, Falileyev, Alexander I "Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘Sperm’ and Some Aspects of Common Iranian and Indo-European Reconstruction." Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 81.5 (2022):57-73. DOI: 10.31857/S160578800022747-7
APA	Dzitstsoity Y., Falileyev A. (2022). Ossetian myg / mugæ ‘Sperm’ and Some Aspects of Common Iranian and Indo-European Reconstruction. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 81(5), pp.57-73 DOI: 10.31857/S160578800022747-7

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