On the etymology of the Northern Russian dialect vocabulary (plot’ ‘lie’, shaki, vekshar’/veshkar’)
Abstract
The paper discusses the etymology of three Northern Russiandialect words: плоть [plot'] ‘lie', ша´ки, шаки´ [shaki] ‘shoulders' and векша´рь, вешка´рь [vekshar' / veshkar'] ‘orange-capped bolete'. The rst is derived from плоть [plot'] ‘dandru ' as a result of a semantic shiff ‘thin, easily detachable cover' → ‘something unimportant, insigni cant' which takes place in other Russian words - шелуха´ [shelukha], чепуха´ [chepukha], вздор [vzdor]. For the form ша´ки, шаки´ [shaki] ‘shoulders' a relation with ша´хи [shakhi] ‘rick supports' as A. Ye. Anikin had pointed. Both words denote instruments used for lifted object xation: ша´ки, шаки´ [shaki] is only used in the descriptions of carrying a child on the back while he or she is holding carrier's neck or shoulders. A similar combination of the meanings ‘shoulders' and ‘long thin object' can be seen in the Polish word bark , barki ‘shoulders', ‘cart pole'. The words векша´рь, вешка´рь [vekshar' / veshkar'] ‘orange-capped bolete' are de ned as phonetic variations: вешка´рь [veshkar'] is regarded as a result of consonant metathesis in векша´рь [vekshar']. This conclusion is supported by the fact that there are no reasons either to recognize foreign-language origin for вешка´рь [veshkar'] or to qualify it as a derivative from в´ешка [veshka] ‘squirrel'. Apart from this, the arguments from linguistic geography are given: the form вешка´рь [veshkar'] is located either in the same territory as векша´рь [vekshar'] or in its neighborhood. This spatial distribution of initial and secondary phonetic variations is similar for the Russian dialect words верло´г [verlog], верло´га [verloga] - ерло´г [yerlog] ‘lair' and витю´г [vit'ug], ветю´к [vet'uk] - фитю´г [fit'ug], фитю´к [fit'uk] ‘wild dove'. The geographic location of these words and the correlation between their areas is shown graphically on the schematic maps based on the materials of dialect dictionaries and “Lexical Atlas of the Russian Dialects”.
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