Chapter 7: A Long List of CM Words

Our starting point was G. suim, described as a means of calculating the capacity of grazing which equated different types of animals in a sophisticated way, and whose purpose was to prevent over-grazing. There are many other SM words in Gaelic but nothing related to the suim. Where did it come from?

The introduction to the CR long list in the previous chapter applies equally to the CM list. This second long word-list contains words based on C, G, S etc (TEC 3) combined with M, N, Ng or V (TEC 3)

CM, GM, SM, HM, -M
CN, GN, SN, HN, -N
CV, GV, SV, HV and -V.

This appears to cover much more ground than the CR root but in the event it produced almost exactly the same number of words, from the same languages. Approximately 800 words were found and allocated to eight categories. The complete wordlist is given as an appendix to this chapter.

One problem is that CM is widespread and common as a prefix, meaning ‘brought together’ or ‘gathered’. It is found as Lat. co, com, con, G. comh, W. cyf, and Ru. sa, za, saab. The published list may contain some compound words beginning with CM the prefix rather than CM the root but such words are generally easy to recognise in dictionaries.

Categories of the CM list
The remarkable thing is that, although CR and CM are two quite distinct roots, the categories of the CM list are very similar to those of the CR list. The words could be grouped and divided up in other ways but the 800 CM words fit into categories which are almost identical to those of the 800 CR words. This will be investigated in the following chapters.

1. Fire. As in other lists ‘fire’ words form a small distinct category.

2. Curves and corners. The main prehistoric use of CM with this meaning appears to be a fish-hook.

3. Hunting. Words used by hunters referring to rounding-up and butchery would continue to be used by farmers and we assume here that they originated in a hunting context. They refer, in a recognisable way to din, confusion, violence, confrontation and theft. A rare survival is Cat. enrenou ‘bustle, noise, tumult, uproar’ (treated as an eroded aspirate) which appears to refer to a gathering of reindeer, from Cat. ren ‘reindeer’. To confront a wild animal demanded great courage. Their bards described hunters as heroes and champions. To settled farmers at a later date, who had destroyed the forests and whose livestock was at risk, hunters were a half-starved and violent rabble which, in their latter days, was no doubt the case. The references to the north or, on one case, to the south, suggest that hunting took place elsewhere, at the edge of the settled lands. Words for mouths or for narrow openings tend to derive from, or were used for, ambush sites. Large animals were also driven into boggy ground and pelted with missiles. Many of the signalling systems devised by hunters and herders continued in use. Bells and chanting were taken over by established religions, the rationale being that something that served to pass information to a distant hunter would also serve to pass information to a distant and invisible deity. See also Irrational Behaviour (7, below). The archaic method of distribution was to allocate pieces alternately to two equal piles, and then subdivide the piles as often as required. That there were frequent complaints about wrongful division and small portions is seen by the number of words which link hunting with trickery and dishonesty.

4. Farming. Certain of these words suggest that the typical farming settlement was patrilineal, but others suggest a group of uterine blood-relatives. There are remarkably few CM words for domesticated animals but even fewer than for their wild precursors. It is assumed that the CM horses are the domesticated variety. The management of tame animals was in many ways similar to the management of wild animals which had been rounded up and awaited slaughter but there are suggestions of castrating and of planned breeding.

5. Authority. The council of elders has been treated as an innovation of the farming period, for reasons which will become apparent when we come to compare this list with the CR list, but the concept of an organising elite who combined the functions of hunt leaders, judges and priests is likely to have arisen in the preceding hunting culture. This category suggests a general assembly of old folk, resolving community issues by consensus. In contrast to the council of village elders projected by the preceding category, this very assorted category points to the abuses inherent in less democratic systems of control, such as legal systems backed-up by force, the hoarding of wealth, and conspicuous expenditure. For the parallel religious evolution see category 7.

6. Transport and crafts

7. Irrational behaviour.

8. Defined units (discussed below) This category is difficult to date, even in relative terms, but words defining fixed periods of time and defined areas of land are widely spread. They may also be innovative terms spread around with farming terminology. Counting to base 10 is more recent in Europe than counting to base 2 (4, 8, 16) and appears to have been introduced with sheep.

This word-list suggests that a CM or SM word meaning ‘to gather together’ was in general use by the European heirs of Palaeolithic culture and in Asia before it was put to new use by the emerging farming cultures of the Near East. The generic CM word for ‘gathering’ has also been used for a deer drive, a cattle round-up, and a harvest of grain. The list suggests that, for as long as pastoral animals were free-ranging, the difference between hunting and pastoral techniques was one of species rather than of techniques or objectives. Continuity in the actual processes is reflected in the lack of novelty in the language. It is still true that whether a bull is technically wild or domesticated makes little difference to the business of his capture, immobilisation and slaughter. This is compatible with the proposal that Europeans were involved with the management of milk animals including reindeer, elk and aurochs long before there are any signs of formal domestication or dairying. The Near East converted from hunting to farming at a relatively early date. This may explain why there are very few CM words which are specific to hunting but a very large number which apply equally to hunting and to herding. CM terms also show us the ordered village of a sedentary patriarchal community in which words for rounding up and harvesting are now applied to cereal crops but in which a supply of meat was still the major preoccupation. They also show that the conversion to permanent settlement was accompanied by the growth of centralised authority.

In Highland Scotland before c.1800 the population was distributed between a number of communal farms or townships, each supporting between fifty and a hundred individuals. There were no villages as such and very little arable farming. This probably explains why the CM words found in Gaelic are of a different kind. The Gaelic suim is a pastoral concept, focusing on the milking animals of the group farm or township. The CM words in general refer to tame animals, to a tranquil and egalitarian order, and to democratic and generous concepts of wealth and prosperity. Very few refer to hunting, even by implication. The lexical isolation of the suim within Gaelic suggests that it has travelled from a more evolved world, together with the ideas of stock management which it embodies. There is another consideration. In Scotland the herds of milk animals were tended by women, children and old men, who subsisted very largely on dairy products. Perhaps the Gaelic CM lexicon is a reflection of this pastoral world in contrast with the more stirring and brutal world of the heroic young hunters.

COUNTING AT SIXES AND SEVENS
The topic of counting and the names of numbers is an intriguing one. Category 8 consists of various words relating to counting: they include words for a half, a whole, and for 5, 6 and 7. To summarise the probable evolution of these words, we can propose that when men first counted, whether the unit was 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 (and there is evidence for all of these), they did so by shouting out the names of the numbers (One! Two! Three!) while they or someone else kept a tally of the completed units by marking a stick or moving a pebble from one pocket to the other or simply watched and kept track. To mark the completion of the unit they shouted a stop word or marker. This was not the name of the following larger number (for there was no larger number) but a word which marked the completion of the count. This is particularly easy to see in the count of 8 whose stop word was 'None', 'No', 'Now' or something similar. When 8 was upgraded to a unit of 10, the local stop word for the unit of 8 was used as a name for 9. This explains why the words for 9 in European languages are very similar to the words for ‘new’: Fr. neuf and neuf; Lat. novem and novus; G. nuadh and naodh. Hindi nav ‘9’, nava ‘to make new’ and naval ‘new, fresh’. Other stop words such as no, none, enough and Nein! still indicate a negative. The week in Republican Rome consisted of eight working days and the nundinae or market day. Nundinae is taken to mean ‘pertaining to the ninth day’ but it is more likely that nun was a stop word for the count of 8 which also marked the end of the week. Nun is found also in nuncupare ‘to announce publicly’ and nuntiare ‘to announce, to make known’, which refers to the shout of Nun which greeted a completed unit.

Other ‘stop’ words were adopted into counting sequences and the one that concerns us here is the stop word for 6, which was adopted as the name for the numeral 7. The stop words for the count of 6 are still to be found in seventh place. The clearest example is Lat. septem ‘7’, which is cognate with Lat. septum ‘fence, enclosure, wall’. Both septem and septum mean ‘that which separates or divides’. Lat. septunx is defined as ‘a group of seven; properly seven-twelfths of a whole,’ which I find difficult to understand. It probably refers to a unit of 6 plus a ‘stop’ which was not a numeral. Twelve comes into this story but not yet. The most familiar example of a unit of 6 plus a stop is the Jewish week of six working days plus the sabbat (and 'sabbat' is a cognate of ‘seven’). In the Creation legend in Genesis 1, God made the world in six working days, after which He rested on the seventh day, which became holy. But in the same story in Genesis 2, God made the world in a single day. The new version appears to be a way of justifying the introduction of a new mystical number, 7. The magical 7 spread from the Indus valley to Greece in the third millennium BC. G. Ashe, The Ancient Wisdom, 1977, 1979, chapters 4-7, where he discusses a great many strange theories before offering one of his own. In summary, 7 was never the basis of a counting system but represents counting to base 6 plus a closing word or stop marking a complete unit of 6. Seven relates to Fr. sevrer 'separate'. The question we should ask is not ‘Why 7?’ but ‘Why 6?’

The answer is probably that 6 is a useful number, small enough to be completely envisaged at a glance without counting, large enough to be useful and susceptible of tidy arrangement. Most egg-boxes still contain 6 or 12 eggs. Those who first used 6 as the unit instead of 4 or 5 may also have been impressed by the fact that it is a ‘perfect’ number, since it is the sum of its factors: 1 plus 2 plus 3 makes 6. The practical value of the units of 6 and 12 has persisted, without any of the mumbo-jumbo that attaches to 7 and 13. The count of 6 was doubled to give a dozen and eventually a dozen dozens or a ‘gross’. It was combined with the decimal count to give units of 30 and 60, it was exploited by mathematicians to divide and organise hours, days, and the world itself. There are 60 geographical miles in 1 degree, 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour. There are 360 degrees in a single revolution and each contains 60 minutes (of a different kind) made up of 60 seconds. Before cursing a man, an Irish filid had to get the consent of 30 laymen, 30 bishops and 30 poets. When a ninth-century chronicler wished to say ‘many’ he said ‘60, and when he wished to say ‘very many’, he said ‘120’. A large ship had 60 oars ‘or more’.

Those who were less educated or who belonged to marginal pastoral or hunting elements in society, evidently learned the new count from 1 to 6 + a stop as a kind of magical formula and did not know to exclude the stop from the count. Among these innumerates 7 acquired a special significance. The evidence for this is that we still use this stop, in seventh place.

The double unit of 12 also has both practical and mystical aspects. There are 12 hours in a day and 12 units of 5 minutes each in an hour but there were also 12 tribes of Israel, 12 labours of Hercules, 12 disciples, and 12 days of Christmas. Aristotle devised a compass with 12 points which was known in Ireland where there were 4 principal winds and 8 lesser winds, each with its defining colour. The sky is divided into 12 parts, identified with the 12 signs of the Zodiac. This may explain the design of the Dacian temple at Sarmizegetusas, Romania, which is based on a unit of 6 and may have been a solar computer. Two of the sanctuaries have grids made up of 60 columns and a third has a grid of 18. A fourth has groupings of 6 columns repeated 30 times to give a total of 180 N. Crane, Clear Waters Rising, A Mountain Walk Across Europe, 1996, 318. The baker’s dozen of 13 includes another ‘stop’ whose correct name, like that of 11 and 12, has been lost in the decimal revolution. But older habits persisted. Our compass may have 360 degrees but we still divide them into units of 2, 4 and 8, and not 6, 10 or 12.

6 times 12 was also once significant. 72 was the Number of the Tower of Babel. 72 Irish poets spoke the 72 languages of mankind and every aspect of the Tower (or linguistic system) was based on 72. Perhaps the 36 letters of the Armenian alphabet come in here.

From the early appearance of the magical 7 in Sumeria and the Indus Valley we may deduce that the unit of 6 evolved within an evolved farming culture, though counting systems can migrate, both through trade and through education. However Western hunting and pastoral societies never progressed beyond a count to base 2, though this could reach a cumulative figure of 16 or on occasion 64 or even 128. Pastoral nomads can also be ruled out as domesticated sheep or goats are counted in 10s or 20s in Western Europe: a count that survives in Britain as the ‘Yan Tan’ sheep score. The conclusion appears to be that the practical unit of 6 and the impractical unit of 7 evolved in a society based on arable farming.

Why should such a society need a new system? The most obvious answer is that a surplus of grain allows the evolution of an urban culture, which supports a literate administrative class which sooner or later must have felt the need for a better way to count sacks or baskets of grain than to sort them into two equal piles. This works well enough for joints of meat. A hunt master sorting out pieces of meat into equal piles for immediate consumption by his followers does not need to count at all. A shepherd counting sheep passing rapidly through a gate evidently used his ten fingers and made a mark or shouted. But sheep are not stored in tidy piles. Sacks or baskets of grain might be as numerous as sheep but also need to be stacked. 6 is a much more convenient unit for this purpose than 5. So it seems that someone in the fertile East invented the unit of 6 in the way described above: he added an existing ‘closing’ word to an existing count of 5 as the name of 6.

Hindi gives us the clearest signs of how things this happened. The 31st consonant of the Devanagari syllabary is entirely devoted to the concept of 6 which was known as sat, sad or san. The Brahmin caste recognised 6 duties, 6 types of food, and 6 systems of philosophy. There were 6 seasons and the god Kartikeya had 6 faces. This development must predate the composition of the Rig Veda which is dominated by references to mystical 7s. Some light appears when we discover that sat in Hindi can also mean ‘7’. In other words, sat was a closing word or stop, first used to mark a unit of 5, then adopted as the name of 6, and at some other time used to mark a unit of 6 and adopted as the name of 7. This is why sat is said to derive from Skr. sapta ‘7’. Hindi preserves the relevant ‘closing’ word sab, meaning‘all of a set or group; entire amount; the whole of something’. Hindi sat can also mean ‘the total number of any group’, in other words, a complete (undefined) unit. The 7s are more poetic than the 6s: there are 7 divisions in the world, the 7 stars in the Great Bear represent 7 great sages, and a marriage ended with 7 perambulations round the sacred fire.

As noted above, in India we also find the older count of 8 plus 1: Hindi nav ‘9’ corresponds to the stop words nava ‘to make new’ and naval ‘new, fresh’. 9 is a measure of completeness and perfection: there are 9 paragons, 9 pleasures, 9 openings of the body, 9 jewels, 9 divisions of the world, 9 planets. In a less sophisticated world, the clerk who wrote the entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 871 used 9 to mean ‘very large number’: in that year there were 9 battles fought and 9 eorls killed.

CM 'counting' words
saabig (Ar.) ‘past, preceding’.
sab (Hind.) ‘night’.
sab‘a (Ar.) ‘7’.
sadi (Per.) ‘a century’.
same (E.) ‘repeated’.
sapta (Skr.) 7’.
sat (Skr.) ‘6’.
sat (Hind.) ‘true, right’: a ‘stopping’ word, for a count of 5!
satis (Lat.) ‘enough’.
seco (Lat.) ‘to cut off; to scratch’.
set (E.) 'a complete unit'
sepes (Lat.) ‘hedge, fence’.
septem (Lat.) ‘7’.
septum (Lat.) ‘wall, partition’. It divides units of 6.
she’va (Heb.) ‘7’.
she’ver (Heb.) ‘fracture, break’.
shesh (Heb.) ‘6’.
sitta (Ar.) ‘6’.
subh or sabaah (Ar.) ‘forenoon, morning’. Was this seen as six hours, half a day?
y-evs (Arm.) ‘once more, too, again’.
y-evta (Arm.) ‘7’.

APPENDIX: LONG WORD-LIST FOR THE ROOT CM
Roots: CM, GM, SM, HM, -M; CN, GN, SN, HN, -N; CV, GV, SV, HV, -V.

CATEGORIES (808 words)

1. Fire (33 words)
2. Curves and corners (45 words)
3. Hunting (347 words) 3.a. The hunt; 3.b. The hunters; 3.c. The hunting grounds; 3.d. Traps and ambushes; 3.e. Signalling systems; 3.f. Equipment and weapons; 3.g. Game; 3.h. Butchery; 3.i. The colour of blood; 3.j. Distribution of the spoils; 3.k. Complaints; 3.l. Hunger.
4. Farming and innovation (176 words) 4.a. The village; 4.b. Tame animals; 4.c. Their management; 4.d. Wealth counted in cattle; 4.e. ‘Gathering’ words in secondary use; 4.f. Cultivation.
5. Authority (72 words) 6.a. The council of elders; 6.b. Central authority.
6. Transport and crafts (63 words) 5.a. Containers; 5.b. Transport; 5.c. Crafts and trades.
7. Irrational behaviour (24 words)
8. Defined units (48 words) 8.a. The half; 8.b. The whole
9. Miscellaneous (not counted)

1. Fire
càin (G.) ‘clear, bright, fair, pure; beloved’.
candida, canus (Lat.) ‘brilliant white’.
candle (E.) ‘wick dipped in wax and burned to give light’.
candor (Lat.) ‘light’.
cham (Heb.) ‘hot, heat’.
chamotte (Du.) ‘fire-proof stone used for lining ovens’.
cinder (E.) ‘ember’.
ember (E.) ‘cinder’.
hummaa (Ar.) ‘fever’.
kameenee (Gr.) ‘furnace, kiln’.
kaminas (Lith.) ‘chimney’.
kiivas (Fin.) ‘hot, violent’.
resina (Gr.) ‘resin’.
saafiy (Ar.) ‘clear, pure’.
sam (G.) ‘sun’.
sama (Hind.) ‘wax candle’.
samovar (Ru.) ‘kettle’.
sauna (Fin.) ‘steam bath’.
schouw (Du.) ‘chimney’.
shahm (Ar.) ‘grease, fat’.
sham‘a (Ar.) ‘wax, candle’.
shams (Ar.) ‘sun’.
shemen (Heb.) ‘oil’.
shemesh (Heb.) ‘sun’.
shine (E.) ‘to reflect light, give out light’.
sintel (Du.) ‘cinder’.
skina (Sw.) ‘shine’.
skön (Sw.) ‘beautiful, fair’.
skum (Sw.) ‘dim, misty’ (smoky).
somba (Gr.) ‘heater, stove’.
sop (Sw.) ‘sweep’.
suin (Fr.) ‘sweat, exude (as resin)’.
sun (E.) ‘the primordial source of heat and light’.

2. Curves and corners
cam (G.) ‘crooked, bent, curved’.
cam (W.) ‘crooked, bowed, bend, one-eyed’; as prefix = mis-
camard (Fr.) ‘flat-nosed’.
cambrer (Fr.) ‘curve in an arc’.
camelle (Fr.) ‘heap of salt in a salt marsh’.
camera (Lat.) ‘arch, vault; ship with an arched covering’.
camerare (Lat.) ‘to vault’.
camus (Fr.) ‘short flat nose’.
cant (W.) ‘orb, rim or verge of a circle’.
çengel (Alb.) ‘hook’.
chin (E.) An angular thing.
combe (E.) ‘small bowl-shaped valley’.
cuneus (Lat.) ‘wedge’.
gampsos (Gr.) ‘hooked, crooked’.
gancio (It.) ‘hook’.
ganthono (Gr.) ‘hook’.
gimma (Ar.) ‘top, summit’.
gonato (Gr.) ‘knee’.
hamen (Ger.) ‘fish-hook’.
hamus (Lat.) ‘fish-hook’.
heaven (E.) ‘the vault of the sky’.
hemel (Du.), himmel (Ger.) ‘heaven’.
kamaratos (Gr.) ‘arched, vaulted’.
kamb, komba (Shet) ‘sharp-crested mountain ridge, comb’.
kambee (Gr.) ‘elbow, knee’.
kambto (Gr.) ‘turn, curve’.
kampas (Lith.) ‘corner’.
kin (Du.) ‘chin’.
kink (Du.) ‘twist, kink’.
kobynis (Lith.) ‘hook’.
kop (Du.) ‘head, crest’.
kumpas (Lith.) ‘hooked, bent, curved’.
kumstis (Lith.) ‘fist’.
saamiy (Ar.) ‘high’.
samaa’ (Ar.) ‘sky’.
scambus (Lat., Gr.) ‘bandy-legged’.
schommel (Du.) ‘swing’.
shammel shanks (Sc.) ‘bowed legs’.
simper (E.) ‘silly or affected smile’ with curved lips?
sinn (Ar.) ‘point, tip; tooth’.
sinnaara (Ar.) ‘hook’.
sinus (Lat.) ‘curve, bend’.
summit (E.) ‘top, highest point’.
sunn (G.) ‘summit’.
zavos (Gr.) ‘crooked, clumsy’.

3. Hunting
3.a. The hunt
assembly (E.) ‘gathering, meeting’.
caimhil (G) ‘to confine, restrain, hem in’.
càin (G.) ‘number, count’.
cama (G.) ‘strong, courageous, daring, bold, brave’.
camawn (W.) ‘conflict, combat’.
camion (Fr.) ‘very small pin’ (perhaps a tether).
campio (W.) ‘to strive at games; to frolic’.
camre (W.) ‘course, journey’.
camu (W.) ‘to stride’.
chamailler (Fr.) ‘to fight’.
chamas (Heb.) ‘violence’.
chambard (Fr.) ‘confusion, stir, upset’.
cingula (Lat.) ‘belt’.
com, con (Lat. prefix), ‘together’.
come (E.) ‘to draw near’.
comh (G. prefix) ‘together’.
counter (E.) ‘in opposition to’.
dynge (Nor.) ‘heap, mass, pile’.
enrenou (Cat.) ‘bustle, noise, tumult, uproar’, ren (Cat.) ‘reindeer’
escandol (Cat.) ‘noisy disorder’ (E. scandal).
gabumas (Lith.) ‘ability’.
gam (Ru.) ‘din, uproar’.
gam (Sc.) ‘social intercourse; a visit at sea’.
game (E. slang) ‘thieving’ (hunting).
game (E.) ‘a sport evolved to improve hunting skills’.
gammock (E.) ‘frolic, fun’.
ganch or gaunch (E.) ‘to impale, lacerate’, with particular reference to the wound caused by a boar’s tusk.
ganneven (Du.) ‘steal, lift’ (hunt, raid).
ginti (Lith.) ‘to drive (animals)’.
hamla (Ar.) ‘raid’.
hand (E.) ‘grasp’.
hend (E.) ‘to seize, grasp’.
hinder (E.) ‘to impede’.
hink (Du.) ‘limp, hop’.
jam (E.) ‘to wedge tight’.
join (E.)
kabaal (Du.) ‘hubbub, racket, shindy’.
kamme (Ger.) ‘comb’ (a hurdle or gate).
kamp (Du.) ‘combat, struggle, fight, contest’ (hunt).
kamp (Sw.) ‘struggle, fight, battle’.
kennis (Du.) ‘knowledge’.
khamsin (Ar.) ‘dust storm’.
kimus (Lith.) ‘hoarse, raucous’.
komos (Gr.) ‘revel’.
kunde (Du.) ‘knowledge’.
sabaid (G.) ‘brawl, quarrel, fight, fray, row’ (hunt or round-up).
sævitia (Lat.) ‘violence’.
sam (E.) ‘together, in order’.
samatas (Gr.) ‘din, roar, fight’.
sambrudzis (Lith.) ‘fuss, ado’.
samburis (Lith.) ‘gathering’.
samen (Du.) ‘together’.
samhadh (G.) ‘congregation’.
samin, samyn (Sc.) ‘the same, together’.
samiyk or simaak (Ar.) ‘dense, thick’.
samla (Sw.) ‘collect, gather, come together’.
samling (Ger.); zameling (Du.) ‘meeting, collection’.
samman (Sw.) ‘together’.
sams (Sw.) ‘be reconciled’.
samt (Ar.) ‘silence’.
samysis (Lith.) ‘confusion’.
sanivar (Hind.) ‘to see’.
scent (E.) ‘track by smell’.
scheef (Du.) ‘squint, at an angle’.
schouw (Du.) ‘inspection, survey’.
scoff (E.) ‘to plunder’.
seam (E.) ‘to join’.
shamesh (Heb.) ‘to serve’.
shindy, shindig (E.) ‘row, rumpus’.
simmig (Sw.) ‘thick’.
sjunka (Sw.) ‘sink, founder, fall’.
skämma (Sw.) ‘spoil’.
skymma (Sw.) ‘conceal, hide; dark’.
skymt (Sw.) ‘trace, glimpse’.
skynda (Sw.) ‘hurry, hasten’.
sum (E.) ‘total’.
suma (Fin.) ‘log-jam’
suma (Sp.) ‘sum, total, quantity, number, summing up’.
sumaisyti (Lith.) ‘confuse, mix up’.
sumari (Hind.) ‘counting, census’.
sumegzti (Lith.) ‘tie, make a knot’.
sumesti (Lith.) ‘pile, heap’.
sùmhail (G.) ‘close-packing, compact’.
suminti (Lith.) ‘trample underfoot’.
sumises (Lith.) ‘turmoil, commotion’.
sumk (Ar.) ‘density, thickness’.
syn (Gr.) ‘together’.
syna (Sw.) ‘to inspect, survey’.
yematos (Gr.) ‘crowded, swarming, packed, crammed’.
yemeezo (Gr.) ‘fill up’.

3.b. The hunters
campwr (W.) ‘champion’.
camwr (W.) ‘strider, traveller’.
canaille (Fr.) ‘rabble’, lit ‘dog people’.
canis (Lat.) ‘dog’.
gam (Sw.) ‘vulture’ (hunter).
gang (E.) ‘a band of roughs or criminals’.
gannef (Du.) ‘crook, rogue’.
hamall (Alb.) ‘porter’.
hand (E.) ‘worker of lowly status’.
honen (Du.) ‘jeer at, taunt, insult’.
kamrat (Sw.) ‘comrade, fellow, friend’.
kumetis (Lith.) ‘hired man, farm-hand’ (a beater or cow-poke).
kynegetes (Gr.) ‘huntsman’, lit. ‘dog-leader’
samdinys (Lith.) ‘hired man’.
savage (E.)
sawwag (Ar.) ‘driver’.
scamp (E.) ‘idle, tricky fellow, thief’.
schamel (Du.) ‘poor, humble’.
schavuit (Du.) ‘rascal, rogue’.
schimp (Du.) ‘to taunt, scoff, abuse, jeer at’.
scoff (E.) ‘to jeer at’.
scum (E.) ‘foam; disreputable people’.
sinis (Gr.) ‘destroyer, ravager, robber’.
sonn (G.) ‘hero, champion’.
jamaa‘a (Ar.) ‘group, gang’.
sancire (Lat.) ‘to proscribe’.

3.c. The hunting grounds
campania (L. Lat.) ‘extensive level ground, plain’.
samhnach (G.), ‘deer park, winter park’.
gamta (Lith.) ‘nature’.
haamish (Ar.) ‘margin’.
kambos (Gr.) ‘plain, flat country’.
kempen (Du.) ‘heath’.
kant (Du.) ‘edge’.
samana (Lith.) ‘moss’.
kant (Sw.) ‘edge, border’.
sanjag (Ar.) ‘province’.
scene (E.) ‘distant vista’.
scheme (E.) ‘plan or system’.
seber (Ru.) ‘north’. The root of Siberia, a region where hunting continued.
sens (Fr.) ‘direction’.
shamaal (Ar.) ‘north’. Perhaps a region of hunting or herding.
sumal (Hind.) ‘north’. Cognate with Himalaya, perhaps a region noted for its hunting.
sunn (G.) ‘strong fort’.
sunnan (Sw.) ‘southerly’.

3.d. Traps and ambush sites
engte (Du.) ‘strait, defile, narrow passage (animal trap)’.
fang (Nor.) ‘knee’; fange ‘catch, trap’.
gang (Du.) ‘narrow passage for men and animals, alley’.
gap (Sw.) ‘mouth’, as E. gob, gape (a trap).
hem in (E.)
hemme (Nor.) ‘check, restrain’.
kenete (Alb.) ‘marsh, swamp’.
sänke (Sw.) ‘hollow, depression’.
schans (Du.) ‘trenches’.
sente, sentier (Fr.) ‘a footpath’.
sinach (W.) ‘hedge, bank, waste ground’.
sine, synd, syne (Sc.) ‘to wash, rinse’.
singel (Du.) ‘girth, girdle, moat’.
sink (E., Sc.) ‘a depression where water gathers’.
skandalon (Gr.) ‘stumbling-block’ (obstacle, trap).
sound (E.) ‘narrow sea passage, strait’.
sumirkyti (Lith.) ‘to soak through’.
sump (E.) ‘a dank green hollow where water collects’.
sump (Sc.) ‘a sudden heavy fall of rain’, sumped ‘wet, drenched’.
sump (Sw.) ‘fen, marsh’.
swamp (E.) ‘low ground filled with water’.
zomp (Fl.) ‘swamp’.

3.e. Signalling systems
banner (E.): W. lluman ‘banner’ suggests the original banner was a light signal.
campana (It.) ‘bell’.
cantare (Lat.) ‘to sing, chant’.
chamade (Fr.) ‘signal given by trumpets and drums’.
cibilare (Lat.) ‘to whistle’; Fr. siffler.
concha (Lat.) ‘shell’, but specifically a shell which can be used as a trumpet.
cymbalum (Lat.) ‘two hollow brass plates which are beaten together to make a loud noise’.
galm (Du.) ‘sound reverberations’.
kumpu (Fin.) ‘hill, knoll, hillock’.
sanjag (Ar.) ‘banner’.
sankh (Hind.) ‘conch shell’ (which makes a loud noise when blown).
seema (Gr.) ‘sign, signal, mark’.
semaphore (E.) a signalling system said to have been invented in 1812.
semeion (Gr.) ‘sign’.
send (E.) ‘to dispatch (a message)’.
signum (Lat.) ‘a gesture expressing a meaning’.
sing, song (E.) A sung message travels further than a spoken one. Tones can be used to convey meaning.
sinjal (Alb.) ‘signal’.
sjunga (Sw.) ‘sing’.
sonor (Sw.) ‘sonorous’.
suinto (Fin.) ‘sound’.
summer (Sw.) ‘buzzer’.

3.f. Equipment and weapons
camisa (Prov.) ‘shirt’ (protective clothing).
camse (W.) ‘chemise, tunic’.
çanak (Alb.) ‘bowl’.
canna (Lat.) ‘reed’.
çantë (Alb.) ‘bag’.
canteen (E.) ‘vessel used by soldiers’.
cempe (Lith.) ‘slipper’.
chemise (Fr.) ‘shirt’.
gambeson (O.Fr.) ‘leather or quilted coat’.
gamel, gamelle (Du.) ‘mess-tin’.
gancio (It.) ‘hook’.
hamus (Lat.) ‘fish-hook’.
hemd (Du.) ‘shirt’.
hengel (Du.) ‘fishing rod’.
hound (E.)
kamakee (Gr.) ‘harpoon’.
kamienas (Lith.) ‘trunk, stem, stalk’.
kamuolys (Lith.) ‘ball’.
kivi (Fin.) ‘stone’.
qen (Alb.) ‘dog’.
sabel (Du.) ‘sword, sabre’.
samser (Hind.) ‘sword’.
sanku (Hind.) ‘stake, spike, spear’.
schoen (Du.) ‘shoe, boot’.
shabaka (Ar.) ‘net’.
shaft (E.) ‘anything long and straight; stem; an arrow’.
shanta, shinet (Ar.) ‘bag, case’.
shingle (E.) ‘large rounded stones’.
simmons, simmunds (Sc.) ‘heather ropes’.
skene (Gr.) ‘tent’.

3.g. Game
chamois (Fr.) ‘a type of antelope’.
gam (E.) ‘school of whales’.
hind (E.) ‘female deer, doe’.
samaka (Ar.) ‘fish’.
somar (G.) ‘wild sheep, chamois’.

3.h. Butchery (Many words in this category are equally relevant in a pastoral or hunting context.)
camarde (Fr.) ‘death’.
caner (Fr.) ‘to go away, to die’.
canif (Frankish) ‘pocket-knife’.
canwyro (W.) ‘to plane; to ear-mark sheep’.
chapler (Fr.) ‘to cut into pieces’.
chop (E.) ‘a piece of meat on a rib’.
chop (E.) ‘cut with a sudden blow; hack into small pieces’.
gabalus (Lith.) ‘to break into pieces’.
gam (Sc.) ‘tooth or tusk’.
gamba (L. Lat.) ‘leg’.
game (E.) ‘the spoils of the chase’.
gammon (E.) ‘ham of a hog’.
geneti (Lith.) ‘to lop, chop, trim’.
haima (Gr.) ‘blood’.
ham (E.) ‘thigh of an animal’.
hammer (E.) ‘a tool for smashing rocks, bone, etc’.
hang (E.)
homp (Du.) ‘hunk, lump’.
kappen (Du.) ‘to chop wood; mince meat’.
kepen (Du.) ‘notch, nick’.
knife (E.) ‘to cut’. Rel to E. nip, Fr. canif.
kumpis (Lith.) ‘ham, gammon’.
pens (Du.) ‘paunch, tripe’.
saman (Hind.) ‘end, destruction, killing a sacrificial animal; calming’.
samat (Hind.) ‘disaster, misfortune’.
same (Sc.) ‘unrefined pig lard’.
samgh (Ar.) ‘glue’.
samiyn (Ar.) ‘core, central part’.
sanar (Lith.) ‘joint, articulation’.
sangre (Sp.) ‘blood’.
sanies (Lat.) ‘thin exudate from a wound’.
sann (Ar.) ‘sharpen, put an edge on’.
schaaf (Du.) ‘plane (wood)’.
schampen (Du.) ‘to miss by miscalculation, to graze (as arrow)’.
schemel (Ger.) ‘stool’, from Lat. scamellum, dim of scamnum ‘bench, stool, step’. Gr. scamnee ‘bench, stool’. Perhaps of the kind used for clipping sheep which would also serve when butchering sheep or pigs. It had a broad and a narrow end and bowed sides.
schenken (Du.) ‘pour out; give, grant, present with’.
schisma (Gr.) ‘split, rend, cleft’.
shambles (E.) ‘butcher’s market stall, a flesh-market, a slaughter-house, a place of carnage, a mess or muddle’.
shamen (Heb.) ‘fat’.
shave (E.) ‘to scrape or pare a surface’.
sheb (Heb.) ‘tooth, ivory’.
shimaal (Ar.) ‘left side’. The left side was the sinister or fated side.
shin (E.) ‘lower part of a leg of beef’.
simwr, chimer (W.) ‘mantle, cloak’ (of skin or fur).
sinew (E.)
sinister (Lat.) ‘unlucky, bad, evil’.
skända (Sw.) ‘defile, polute’.
skänkel (Sw.) ‘shank, leg’.
skin (E.) ‘skin, hide, pelt, fur, leather’.
skynke (Sw.) ‘cloth, covering’ (of skin?).
soma (Gr.) ‘body, corpse’.
suanach (G.) ‘hide, skin, covering, mantle’.
suint (Fr.) ‘sheep grease’.
sumusti (Lith.) ‘beat, break, smash’.
sunaikinimas (Lith.) ‘destruction, annihilation’.

3.i. The colour of blood
chum (Heb.) ‘brown’.
gintaras (Lith.) ‘amber’.
hamraa’ (Ar.) ‘red’.
kinnabari (Gr., from Per.) ‘vermilion, a red pigment’.
qinnamon (Heb.) ‘cinnamon, light yellow-brown’.
sandarake (Gr.) ‘bright red’.
sanders (E.) ‘sandalwood, source of a red dye’.
sandix (Lat.) ‘vermilion (mercuric oxide), bright scarlet’ (blood colour).

3.j. Distribution of the spoils
coimeas, cuimsich, cumadh (G.) ‘sufficient, in proportion, equal portion’.
comasach (G.) ‘sufficient’.
cuimse (G.) ‘moderation, sufficiency’.
cùm (G.) ‘sufficient, in proportion, equal portion’.
cymes (W.) ‘portion, sufficiency; just, meet, equal’.
cymesur (W.) ‘moderate, suitable, proportionate’.
even (E.) ‘flat, level, uniform’.
every (E.) ‘each of a number’.
kavel (Du.) ‘lot, parcel’.
kimsti (Lith.) ‘devour, gorge’.
resemble (E.) ‘to be like’.
same (E.) ‘equal’.
samhlach (G.) ‘likening, comparing’.
samma (Sw.) ‘the same as, similar to’.
sammer (Sc.) ‘to agree, adjust, assort, match’.
sample (E.)
sàn (G.) ‘release, dissolve’.
sann (Sw.) ‘true’.
sannadh (G.) ‘loosening, separating’.
sannt (G.) ‘greed, ambition, lust’.
sawaa’ (Ar.) ‘equally so’.
schaften (Du.) ‘to eat’.
scoff (E.) ‘to eat with appetite, to plunder’.
seim (Sc.) ‘likeness’.
semeible, semeable (Sc.) ‘like, similar’.
semejante (Sp. ‘similar, like, resembling, alike’.
semejar (Sp.) ‘to resemble’.
similable (Sc.) ‘like, similar’.
similar (E.) ‘like, equal’.
similar (Sp.) ‘similar, homogeneous, resembling’.
similis (Lat.) ‘like, similar’.
sin (W.) ‘alms’.
sindry, syndry, sinry, sinnery (Sc.) ‘in separate pieces’.
sìon (G.) ‘something, anything’.
some (E.) ‘in some degree’.
some (E.) suffix showing similitude, as ‘lovesome, lightsome’.
sommar (Sc.) ‘summary’, Fr. sommaire.
son (G.) ‘sake, cause, account; good profit, advantage, stead’.
sono (Gr.) ‘consume’.
sònraich (G.) ‘authorise; choose; intend; specify; determine’.
sum (Sc.) ‘to each in order; respectively’ as in ‘two lochs, sum 20 and sum 12 miles in length’.
sumdell, sumdele (Sc.) ‘somewhat’; cf. delen (Du.) ‘to divide (a sum of money, etc); participate in; share’.
summyn (Sc.) ‘some; everyone’ as in ‘all and summyn’.
sumpairt (Sc.) ‘somewhat’; cf part (E.) ‘equal quantity, share’.
sunder (E.); sinder (Sc.) ‘to part, separate’.
sundries (E.) ‘different small things’.
symol (W.) ‘middling’.
syndrig (A-S.) ‘separate, special, private’.

3.k. Complaints
camarfer (W.) ‘to abuse’.
camwri (W.) ‘injury, wrong’.
cam (G.) ‘tricky, dishonest, deceitful’.
cen (Alb.) ‘blemish, defect, fault’.
gambetta (It.) ‘trickery, tripping up’.
gammon (E.) ‘to hoax, pretend’.
gënjej (Alb.) ‘to tell a lie, mislead, trick’.
kunst (Du.) ‘trick’.
schijn (Du.) ‘semblance of truth, pretence’.
seamsanaich (G.) ‘to sham, quibble, do someone out of his rights.
seanach (G.) ‘lucky, crafty’.
sham (E.) ‘to quibble, to pretend, to gain by trickery’.
shenanigan (US slang) ‘trickery’.
simulare (Lat.) ‘to pass off an imitation as the real thing; to cheat’.
sinter, sint, sent (Sc.) ‘small quantity’.
skämt (Sw.) ‘joke, jest’.
somatar (Sp.) ‘waste, squander, spend’.

3.l. Hunger
hunger (E.)
kancia (Lith.) ‘torment, pangs’.
scaffen (Du.) ‘to scrounge’.
sine (Lat.) ‘without’.
sunya (Hind.) ‘empty, void’.

4. Farming and innovation
4.a. The village
amtar (Alb.) ‘mother’. (Alb. moter ‘sister’.)
can (W.) ‘hundred’.
cantina (It.) ‘cellar’ (store-house).
canton (Fr.) ‘district’.
cantref (W.) ‘canton, hundred’.
centre (E., Lat.)
cham (Heb.) ‘father-in-law’.
chop (E.) ‘buy and sell’.
common (E.) ‘shared’.
cuimte (G.) ‘neat, tight, exact’.
cwmed (W.) ‘commot, a sub-division of a hundred or cantref’.
cyfran (W.) ‘allotment’.
cym, sym, syn ‘together, common’.
cympas (W., E.) ‘circle, ring’.
gambros (Gr.) ‘bridegroom, brother-in-law, son-in-law’.
ganiava (Lith.) ‘pasture’.
gentis (Lith.) ‘tribe’.
gimda (Lith.) ‘uterus, womb’.
gimine (Lith.) ‘relation, kin’.
ginti (Lith.) ‘to defend, protect’.
goneas (Gr.) ‘father’.
gonos (Gr.) ‘child, offspring, seed, sperm’.
gymis (Lith.) ‘face’.
hamlet (E.), Fr. hameau ‘a cluster of houses smaller than a village’.
hangar (Fr.) ‘shed’.
home (E.)
honk (Du.) ‘home, home base’.
gamme (Nor.) ‘Lapp turf hut’.
jam‘iyya (Ar.) ‘fraternal group’.
kamara (Gr.) ‘chamber, room’.
kamera (Gr.) ‘room’.
kant (Du.) ‘neat’.
kantoor (Du.) ‘office’.
kin (E.) ‘relatives’.
kind (Du.) ‘child’.
kome (Gr.) ‘village’.
kuma (Lith.) ‘godmother’.
saimh, sèamh (G.) ‘quiet, peaceful’.
saindrean (G.) ‘seat, society’.
saintreabh (G.) ‘family, house’.
sàm (G.) ‘rest, ease’.
sam (Hind.) ‘quiet, rest, peace of mind’.
sambre (W.) ‘chamber, room’.
samilat (Hind.) ‘common lands (held in partnership) in a village’.
samin, samyn (Sc.) ‘the same, together’.
samiyana (Hind.) ‘large tent’.
sammer (Sc.) ‘to agree’.
sàmrad (G.) ‘summer’ (the time of the joint herding).
sancak (Tur.) ‘division of a Turkish province’.
sane (Lat.) ‘well-ordered’.
sanguis (Lat.) ‘blood; descendants’.
santaika (Lith.) ‘concord, harmony’.
seema (Gr.) ‘close by, near’.
semper (Lat.) ‘permanent, for ever’.
senara (Sp.) ‘piece of ground assigned to servants as part of their wages’.
send (Alb.) ‘object, thing’.
sene (Ru.) ‘hall, porch’.
seòmar (G.) ‘chamber, room’.
shaan (Ar.) ‘transaction, affair’.
simmer, symer (Sc.) ‘summer’.
sincerus (Lat.) ‘pure, natural’.
sino (Lat.) ‘to set down; to allow, permit’.
some (E.) as in twosome, threesome: ‘total of two, three’.
sonyie, sunyie (Sc.) ‘care, regard, industry’.
summa (Lat.) ‘the main thing, chief point; sum total’ (summitto for submitto has the opposite meaning).
sumo (Lat.) ‘to take, take up, lay hold of; to assume, take as one’s own; to use, apply, employ, spend, consume; buy, purchase’.
sumptio (Lat.) ‘taking’.
sunaitis (Lith.) ‘grandson’ (granddaughter is dukraite).
sunenas (Lith.) ‘nephew’ (niece is dukterecia).
sunus (Lith.) ‘son’.
yenea (Gr.) ‘race, generation’.
zamiyl (Ar.) ‘colleague’.

4.b. Tame animals
caballus (Lat.) ‘horse’.
camellus (Lat.) ‘camel’.
cane (Fr.) ‘female duck’.
gander (E.)
gans (Du.) ‘goose’.
gent (Du.) ‘male goose’.
gomaree (Gr.) ‘simpleton, beast’.
hahn (Ger.) ‘cock’.
hamel (Du.) ‘wether’.
hen (E.)
hengst (Du.) ‘stallion’.
hoen (Du.) ‘hen, fowl’.
honey (E.)
kip (Du.) ‘hen, fowl’.
kumele (Lith.) ‘mare’, kumelys ‘stallion’.
sheep (E.) An exotic import.
skinka (Sw.) ‘ham, pork’.
soinneach (G.) ‘race-horse’.

4.c. Their management
caimir (G) ‘stockade, fold’.
eemeros (Gr.) ‘tame, domesticated’.
eve (E.) ‘even, evening’ (milking time).
haamil (Ar.) ‘pregnant’.
kam (Shetland) ‘pasture’.
kives (Fin.) ‘testicle’.
kön (Sw.) ‘sex’.
kunne (Du.) ‘sex’.
sabaaH (Ar.) ‘morning’ (when animals were gathered for milking).
sam (Hind.) ‘evening, late afternoon’ (when animals were gathered for milking).
sam (Hind.) ‘metal ring’.
sambhu (Hind.) ‘benevolent’.
samh (G.) ‘flock, fold, herd’.
sanos (Gr.) ‘hay, fodder’.
save (E.) ‘to rescue, protect, husband, hoard’.
schemeren (Du.) ‘to grow dim (at dusk), to dawn’ (milking time).
semen (Lat.) ‘seed; progeny, offspring; stock, race’ (of animals or plants).
semino (Lat.) ‘to procreate (of animals); to produce (of plants)’.
sèvrage (Fr.) ‘separation (from the dam)’.
simaad (Ar.) ‘dung, manure’.
simón (Sp.) ‘hack, cab’.
skona (Sw.) ‘save, spare, preserve’.
soimh (G.) ‘quiet, peaceable, good-natured, tame’.
sono (Gr.) ‘to save, rescue’.
stavios (Gr.) ‘stable, cowshed’.
suim (G., Sc.) ‘communal grazing land, with its joint herd of domestic animals; an individual share of this land and these animals; sum, amount; respect, care, attention’.
sùmhail (G.) ‘quiet, peaceable, tame’.
summer (E.) ‘the period of the joint herding’.
summer (Sc.) ‘to feed cattle through the summer’.
sunn (G.) ‘milking place’.
suwaar (Ar.) ‘bracelet’ (perhaps a round enclosure).
yena (Gr.) ‘birth, breed’.
zamarra (It.) ‘very bright clothes, a shepherd’s costume’. Shepherds were exotics.

4.d. Wealth counted in cattle
saim (G.) ‘rich’.
saimh, sèamh (G.) ‘enchantment to make one’s friends prosper’.
sàimh, suaimh (G.) ‘luxury, pleasure, delight, ease; security’.
samh (G.) ‘flock, fold, herd; fat, rich, productive’.
sèamhas, sèan (G.) ‘good luck, chance, prosperity’.
sen (Sw.) ‘late (in the day); slow’.
seun (G.) ‘defend by enchantment; prosperity, good luck’.
somain (G.) ‘wealth’.
sona (G.) ‘fortunate’.
sonas (G.) ‘good fortune, prosperity, happiness’.
sonse (Sc.) ‘property; prosperity, felicity’.
sonsy (Sc.) ‘lucky, fortunate; plump, thriving’.
summa (Sw.) ‘amount’.
sumptuary, sumptuous (E.) ‘rich’.
sumptus (Lat.) ‘extravagant expenditure’.
yematos (Gr.) ‘plump’.

4.e. ‘Gathering’ words in secondary use
hanebalk (Du.) ‘purlin, tie-beam’.
sanas (G.) ‘dictionary’.
sanasan (G.) ‘glossary, etymology’.
sand (E.) ‘a mass of tiny rounded grains’.
simmer, symmer, breastsummer, bressimer (Sc.) ‘the principal beam in a roof’.

4.f. Cultivation
caib (W.) ‘pickaxe, mattock, hoe’ (hunters also used a mattock).
chumus (Heb.) ‘chick pea dish’.
cumulus (Lat.) ‘pile’.
gabana (Lith.) ‘armful’.
gavel, gaffel (Du.) ‘a two-pronged hay fork’.
gomaree (Gr.) ‘load’.
hame (Gr.) ‘shovel, mattock’,
hinta, gamh (Ar.) ‘wheat’.
kaam (Du.) ‘mould’.
kannabis (Gr.) ‘hemp, the fibre or the drug’.
samara (Lat.) ‘seed of the elm and some other trees’.
sammaama (Ar.) ‘cork, plug’.
samstyti (Lith.) ‘scoop, ladle’.
schimmel (Du.) ‘mould’ (on bread, etc).
schoof (Du.) ‘sheaf’.
seb (Ru.) ‘sowing’.
sembrado (Sp.) ‘cornfield’.
sembrar (Sp.) ‘to sow seed’.
semen (Sp.) ‘seed’.
semence (Fr.) ‘seed’.
sementis (Lat.) ‘seedcorn, a sowing; young crops’.
semer (Fr.) ‘to sow seed’.
seminarius (Lat.), seminario (Sp.) ‘nursery, seed-plot’.
sémis (Fr.) ‘sowing; seed-plot; seedling’.
sennoi (Ru.) ‘hay’.
shovel (E.) ‘to shove, thrust or push’.
sian (G.) ‘pile of grass; beard of barley’.
simblos (Gr.) ‘bee-hive; any store or hoard’.
sineag (G.) ‘handful of corn’.
sinnie (Sc.) ‘small kiln in a barn for drying corn’.
skopa (Sw.) ‘scoop, ladle’.
skyffel (Sw.) ‘shovel, scoop’.

5. Authority
5.a. The council of elders
assembly (E.) ‘meeting’.
canol (W.) ‘umpire’.
count (E.) ‘to sum up; to be important’.
gabul (Ar.) ‘ago’.
gamel (Nor.), Sw. gammal ‘old (person)’.
gammel (Du.) ‘ranshackle, worn-out, seedy’.
gharcama (Ar.) ‘charge, fine’.
haamm (Ar.) ‘important’.
hamm (Ar.) ‘concern, worry, problem’.
kinus (Heb.) ‘assembly, conference’.
saabig (Ar.) ‘former’.
sabab (Ar.) ‘cause, reason’.
samaa‘ (Ar.) ‘audition, hearing’.
samam (Ar.) ‘deafness’.
samtal (Sw.) ‘conversation, talk’.
sanasan (G.) ‘understanding, wisdom’.
sane (O Fr.) ‘parliament, general assembly’.
sanj (Ar.) ‘deafness’.
sean (G.) ‘old’.
seanach (G.) ‘crafty, lucky’.
seanachaidh (G.) ‘one skilled in ancient history; recorder, keeper of records’.
seanair (G.) ‘druid, ancient bard, member of parliament, ancestor, elder, grandfather’.
semblay, semlay, semble, semle, sembland (Sc.) ‘meeting, assembly’.
semble (Sc.) ‘to assemble’.
semper (Nor.) ‘smart’.
senas (Lith.) ‘old, aged’.
senedd (W.) ‘senate’.
Senedrin (Aramaic) ‘the supreme council and court at Jerusalem’.
senex (Lat.) ‘an aged person’.
senile (E.) ‘showing the imbecility of old age’.
senilis (Lat.) ‘belonging to a senior’; (E.) senile.
seniunas (Lith.) ‘elder, headman’.
senove (Lith.) ‘old times’.
sensa (Lat.) ‘thoughts, notions’.
sense (E.) ‘common-sense, practical wisdom; judgement’.
sensyment, censement (Sc.) ‘judgement’.
sentio (Lat.) ‘to feel, hear, see, etc.’.
senyhe, seinye (Sc.) ‘synod, meeting’.
sevas (Gr.) ‘regard, reverence’.
shaan (Ar.) ‘concern, affair’.
shamoa (Heb.) ‘to hear’.
shamran (Heb.) ‘conservative’.
shem (Heb.) ‘name, fame, title’.
sinead (G.) ‘seniority’.
somuiltean (G.) ‘senses, wits’.
sum‘a (Ar.) ‘prestige’.
sunye (Sc.) ‘to care’.
syne (Sc.) ‘since’: lang syne ‘long ago’.
synodos (Gr.) ‘meeting, church council’.
vanha (Fin.) ‘old, ancient, aged’.
yenias (Gr.) ‘beard’.

5.b. Central authority
càin (G.) ‘tribute, tax, toll, rent, fine’.
canon (W.) ‘rule’.
chamarrure (Du.) ‘border of gold or silver embroidery’.
chamberlain (E.) ‘factor or steward’.
comes (Lat.) ‘count’.
constable (E.) ‘state-officer of the highest rank; warden of a castle’.
hoofd (Du.) ‘head’.
jamiyl (Ar.) ‘favour’.
king (E.) Du. koning, khan. As G. cean ‘head’.
sabasan (G.) ‘private hint, warning’.
samaa‘ (Ar.) ‘hearing’.
samaah (Ar.) ‘excuse, permission; forgiveness’.
samsara (Ar.) ‘commission, fee’.
san (Ru.) ‘dignity, office’.
sandelininkas (Lith.) ‘store-keeper’.
seanailtireas (G.) ‘decree’.
seigneur (Fr.) ‘lord; he to whom the lands and the people belong’.
señor (Sp.) ‘lord, owner, master’.
skänk (Sw.) ‘sideboard, cupboard’.
skymf (Sw.) ‘insult, offence, affront’.
sons, sontis (Lat.) ‘guilty’.

6. Transport and crafts
6.a. Containers
cum, cumb (Sc.) ‘tub, cistern’.
gafas (Ar.) ‘crate’.
hama (Lat.) ‘water-bucket’.
kan (Du.) ‘jug, can’.
kane (Nor.) ‘bowl’.
kani (Ice.) ‘a small wooden vessel’.
kani (Shetland) ‘the stern-compartment of a boat’.
kanna (Sw.) ‘pot, jug’.
kom (Du.) ‘basin, bowl’.
kop (Du.) ‘cup, bowl’.
kymbe (Gr.) ‘the hollow of a vessel’.
sanduq (Ar.) ‘chest, coffer’.
shanta (Ar.) ‘bag, case’.
sump (Sw.) ‘corf, fish chest’.

6.b. Transport
camion (Fr.) ‘type of low cart with four wheels’.
camog (W.) ‘felloe of a wheel’.
eeneeo (Gr.) ‘rein, bridle’.
gabenimas (Lith.) ‘transport, carriage’.
gandja (Ar.) ‘type of boat used on the Nile’.
heavy (E.) ‘requiring great effort to move’.
himma (Ar.) ‘effort’.
jamal (Ar.) ‘male camel’.
kaan (Du.) ‘barge’.
kahn (Ger) ‘boat’.
kamanos (Lith.) ‘bridle’.
kana (Sw.) ‘to slide’.
samar (Alb.) ‘saddle’.
samaree (Gr.) ‘pack saddle’.
sambuq (Ar.) ‘a kind of dhow’.
sand (Hind.) ‘bull, eunuch’ (an ox?)
sane, sanke (Ru.) ‘sledge, sleigh’.
sani (Hind.) ‘slow-moving’.
sani (Ru.) ‘sledge’.
schip (Du.) ‘ship, vessel, barge, nave of a church’.
seumarlan (G.) ‘factor, manager’.
shahna (Ar.) ‘cargo’.
shamash (Heb.) ‘beadle, attendant’.
ship (E.)
singla (Sw.) ‘toss up; float’.
somarii (Med.Lat.) ‘butler, household servant’.
sommeiller (Fr.) ‘butler’.
sommier (Fr.) ‘beast of burden’.
sumleyr (Sc.) ‘an officer who had charge of the royal household stuff’.
summer (E.) ‘packhorse’.
summularius or somalerius (L. Lat.) ‘the officer responsible for loading the pack-horse’.
sunks (Sc.) ‘a type of saddle used for riding and pack horses, of cloth packed with straw’. Sc. sunk means ‘sod, turf’.
sunkus (Lith.) ‘hard, heavy, difficult’.

6.c. Crafts and trades
càin (G.) ‘payment in kind, given to a blacksmith’.
canterius (Lat.) ‘piece of wood, a bad horse’.
canvas (E.) ‘coarse cloth made of hemp’, Gr. kannabis.
cempe (Lith.) ‘slipper’.
Gambrinus (Du.) ‘a legendary king of Flanders to whom is attributed the invention of beer’.
gamyba (Lith.) ‘production, manufacture’.
koop (Du.) ‘bargain, purchase’.
samblaje (Sp.) ‘joinery work, assemblage’.
samhuil (G.) ‘likeness, image, copy’.
samplair, sampull (G.) ‘copy, pattern; example’.
san‘a (Ar.) ‘craft, occupation’.
sandalon (Gr.) ‘a wooden sole bound to the foot by straps’.
sanis (Gr.) ‘board, plank’.
shim (E.) ‘slip of metal or wood used to fill in a space’.
shingle (E.) ‘wooden slab used for roofing’.
sinaa‘a (Ar.) ‘make, fabricate’.

7. Irrational behaviour
cân (W.) ‘song, poem, lay, strain’.
Chandeleur (Fr.), 2 February, once the feast of Brigit, now the Purification of the Virgin.
evig (Sw.) ‘eternal, everlasting’.
Ha-Shem ‘God, the anointed’, from Heb. shemen ‘oil’.
heaven (E.) ‘the vault of the sky; dwelling place of the gods’.
hymn (E.) ‘a song of adoration or thanksgiving’.
kunigas (Lith.) ‘priest’.
sabb (Ar.) ‘curse’.
samaa (Ar.) ‘heaven’.
samedi (Fr.) ‘Saturday’.
Samhuinn (G.) ‘Hallowe’en’, the beginning of the winter.
san (G.) ‘holy’.
sanka (Hind.) ‘doubt, fear, awe’.
scandal (E.) ‘defamation, damage to reputation’.
schande (Du.) ‘shame, disgrace, infamy’.
schennis (Du.) ‘violation, outrage’.
shaman (Tungus) ‘priest-sorcerer’.
shame (E.): an artificial concept which reinforces central control.
sin (E.) ‘moral offence; shame’.
sing, song (E.) A sung message travels further than a spoken one. Tones can be used to convey meaning. A song or chant could be used to send a message to the gods.
sinne (Sw.) ‘sense; mind, soul’.
skänk (Sw.), Du. geschenk ‘present’.
smasan (Hind.) ‘burial ground, cremation ground’.
sona (Sw.) ‘expiate, make amends for, atone for’.

8. Defined units
8.a. The half
cam (G.) ‘blind of an eye, half-blind’.
chamesh (Heb.) ‘five’; as half of 10?
eemee- (Gr.) ‘half’; eemeetheos ‘demi-god’.
khamsa (Ar.) ‘five’; perhaps half of 10.
san (Hind.) ‘six’.
sand (A-S.) ‘half, as in sand-blind ‘half-blind’.
sèanar (G.) ‘six’, applied only to persons, otherwise sè.
semestre (Fr.) ‘half-year, six-month period’, half of 12.
semi (Lat.) ‘half’; perhaps half of 12.
seni, senio (Lat.) ‘six’; perhaps half of 12.
sepono (Lat.) ‘to lay apart, separate’;
seven (E.), Lat. septem, Gr. hepta, Ar. sab‘a ‘the number 7’.
shabiyh (Ar.) ‘alike, similar’.

8.b. The whole
annus (Lat.) ‘year’.
compass (E.) ‘delimited space, generally circular’.
eemera (Gr.) ‘day’.
ena (Sw.) ‘unite, make into one’.
enkel (Sw.) ‘single’.
gans (Du.) ‘whole, all’.
jamiy‘(Ar.) ‘all’.
one (E.), Du. een, Sw. en ‘single; the basic unit; undivided’.
sana (Ar.) ‘year’.
sanaam (Ar.) ‘hump’.
sancio (Lat.) ‘to render sacred or inviolable; to confirm’.
santo (Sp.) ‘simple, plain, inviolable’.
sanus (Lat.) ‘sound, healthy, whole’.
sèimh (G.) ‘single’.
semblable (Fr.) ‘similar’.
semel (Lat.) ‘once, a single time’.
seml, syml (W.) ‘single, unmixed, simple’.
semnos (Gr.) ‘simple, plain’.
semple, simpill, sympill (Sc.) ‘common, ordinary, vulgar’.
sha’na (Heb.) ‘year’.
shabiyh (Ar.) ‘alike, similar’.
similis (Lat.) ‘similar’.
simpil (W., NW) ‘simple’; (W., Mont) ‘common’.
simple (E.) ‘consisting of one part, sole’, cf single.
simplex (Lat.) ‘simple, plain’.
simplidh, sìngil (G.) ‘simple, plain’.
simul (Lat.) ‘together, at once, at the same time’.
sìn (G.) ‘to extend, increase in length, stretch out’.
sincerus (Lat.) ‘pure, sound, whole, entire’.
sindill, seindle, sinile (Sc.) ‘seldom, rarely’.
single (E.) ‘consisting of one part’.
singularis (Lat.) ‘single, solitary’.
sionradhach (G.) ‘single’.
sound (E.) ‘healthy, in one piece’.
sound (E.) ‘whole, safe, solid’.

9. Miscellaneous (not counted)
synty (Fin.) ‘birth, origin’.
shaniy‘ (Ar.) ‘ugly’.
gen (Sw.) ‘short, near, direct’.
kamp (Sw.) ‘jade’.
simia (Lat.) ‘ape’.
sina (Sw.) ‘dry’.
summ (Ar.) ‘poison’.
yisammin (Ar.) ‘to be determined’.

808 words
25.12.2009

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