Paolo P. Agostini - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Paolo P. Agostini

Migracijske i Etniĉke Teme, Jun 1, 2001

Izvo m i znanstveni rad Primljeno: !5.12.2000. Članak uvodi čitatelje u problematiku semitskih je... more Izvo m i znanstveni rad Primljeno: !5.12.2000. Članak uvodi čitatelje u problematiku semitskih jezika i naroda. Nakon osvrta na nazivlje i na dublje veze semitskih jezika s dmgim jezičnim porodicama, autor iznosi lingvisti čke, povijesne i ine podatke o pojedinim semitskim jez icima i narodima u razdoblju od drevnosti do n aš ih dana. U tom sklopu autor daje pregled prošlosti Akađana, B abilonaca, Asiraca, naroda kanaanskih jezika (osobito Hebreja), Arapa, ju žnih Arab ljana i Etiopljana.

Migracijske i Etniĉke Teme, 2001

The paper aims to provide a succinct introduction to Semitic studies. The name "Semitic&quot... more The paper aims to provide a succinct introduction to Semitic studies. The name "Semitic" derives from Shem or Sem, Noah's eldest son, from whom most of the Semits were said to descend. It is believed that Semitic languages evolved from hypothetical proto-Semitic. The place of origin of proto-Semitic is disputed: Africa, Arabia and Mesopotamia are possible locations. Unique to Semitic is a triconsonantal root, which carries the basic meaning. Superimposed is a pattern of vowels (or vowels and consonants), indicating variations in meaning or serving in inflection. Another feature is that related consonants typically fall into three subtypes: voiced, unvoiced and emphatic. The Semitic languages are closely interrelated − about as much as Slavic, Germanic or Romanic. Semitic divides into three groups: I. Northeast or East Semitic; 2. Northwest or West Semitic; 3. Southwest or South Semitic. East Semitic includes only Akkadian, the oldest attested Semitic language. Akkadian...

Članak uvodi čitatelje u problematiku semitskih jezika i naroda. Nakon osvrta na nazivlje i na du... more Članak uvodi čitatelje u problematiku semitskih jezika i naroda. Nakon osvrta na nazivlje i na dublje veze semitskih jezika s dmgim jezičnim porodicama, autor iznosi lingvističke, povijesne i ine podatke o pojedinim semitskim jez icima i narodima u razdoblju od drevnosti do naš ih dana. U tom sklopu autor daje pregled prošlosti Akađana, Babilonaca, Asiraca, naroda kanaanskih jezika (osobito Hebreja), Arapa, južnih Arab ljana i Etiopljana.

Balkan studies, 1989

Most of the Slavic languages express the concept of “coin” (Sg.) and “money” (PI.) by words relat... more Most of the Slavic languages express the concept of “coin” (Sg.) and “money” (PI.) by words related to an ancient Slavonic *penedz6, yet the source of this loanword is unknown. The Slavic word is correlated to the German and English name of small change (“Pfenning” and resp. “penny”). As from the IV century A.D. the most widely spread golden coin in the Eastern Roman Empire was the “solidus” (i.e. ‘hard currency’), which — according to contemporary sources — was also referred to with the latin name of “pensa [auri]” (i.e. ‘weighed quantity [of gold]’). The paper introduces evidence tending to show that the borrowing of the latin word into ancient Slavonic took place when the Slavic peoples got in touch with the Byzantine Empire. Yet, a similar word is to be found also in classical Aramaean (cf. pizah ‘pure gold’) and in biblical Hebrew (cf. paz ‘pure gold’). Hence we can assume that the word pensa was used in connection with the coinage of Philip of Macedon, who struck golden stater...

The word kurva, ‘meretrix; whore’ is uniformly spread over a very large geographical area, from t... more The word kurva, ‘meretrix; whore’ is uniformly spread over a very large geographical area, from the Balkans to the Balto-Slavic area, occurring with very slight changes also in languages which differ greatly from each other, as in Neo-Hellenic, Rumanian, Albanese, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Russian and so on. The author’s aim is to prove that the word in question originates from Ancient Greek, i.e. dor. κώρα~1ιοπι. Ko6pp~att. κόρη, (*KoOpFa. Thus the borrowing, affected by the presence of the digamma, had its initial syllable lengthened either by the borrowing language(s), or by a peculiar pronunciation of the greek κοινή.

Migracijske I Etnicke Teme, Jun 30, 1999

After pointing out the shortcomings and methodological weakness of the general theory of linguist... more After pointing out the shortcomings and methodological weakness of the general theory of linguistic reconstruction, the author disputes the alleged antiquity of Uralic. Proto-Uralic as reconstructed by the scholars seems to be the sum of a set of features belonging to several distinct language families. The paper examines a number of lexical concordances with historically attested languages and comes to the conclusion that the Proto-Uralic word-stock is the result of a sum of borrowings that took place from the most disparate languages: Balto-Slavic, Old Swedish, several Turkic dialects, Mongolic, Tunguz, Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, late Middle Persian dialects, Byzantine Greek and Latin. Yet, other languages may also come into account: Chinese, Caucasian languages as well as languages unknown in present day are possible candidates. A large number of bases of the Uralic wordstock can be easily identified by following a few phonological constraints. The linguistic features of the Uralic daughter-languages seem to show that they originated from a pidgin language spoken along the merchant routes that connected the Silk Road to North-and East-European trade. It is a well-known phenomenon that sometimes, when groups of people speaking different languages come into contact for the first time, a new restricted language system (lingua franca or pidgin) comes into being in order to cater to essential common needs. For this reason, pidgins tend to arise along trade routes. Taking into account the characteristics of the original word-stock as well as the report of the Byzantine Emperor Constantinos Porphyrogennetos, according to which the Magyars learned the language they speak from the Xazars, the place of origin of the Proto-Uralic pidgin is to be identified with the Xazarian Qaγanate. The Xazarian Qaγanate succeeded in gaining full control over the trade in the Caspian and Black Sea regions during the three hundred years 650-950 of our era. The Xazars are known to have established their trade posts from the Talas Valley in Kazakhstan up to the very heart of Sweden. Xazaria was one of the main trade routes in the early Middle Ages, and the most likely place where a new language might have developed. The Uralic languages are very probably the creolised offspring of an ancient pidgin that developed around the Xazarian trade posts and along the trade routes controlled by the Xazars.

Avec le développement des études historiques on assiste à l’apparition des premières conjectures ... more Avec le développement des études historiques on assiste à l’apparition des premières conjectures – souvent fort féeriques – sur l’origine des Étrusques. L’approche relativement scientifique à la question des origines faisait son entrée à partir du XVIIIe siècle en se dirigeant sur trois diverses théories qui prévoyaient des origines orientales, septentrionales ou bien autochtones. Aux trois thèses portant sur les origines des Étrusques, Massimo Pallottino avait opposé la nécessité d’éviter l’application de simplismes schématiques pour un problème à la complexité remarquable. À son avis, le procès de formation de la nation étrusque ne pouvait avoir lieu que sur le territoire de l’Étrurie propre, et dans ce procès les échanges culturels et commerciaux avec les voyageurs provenant de la Mer Égéenne (attirés par les ressources métallifères du territoire étrusque) ont joué un rôle très important. Les caractéristiques orientales de leur culture – selon Pallottino – étaient dues à une infl...

In 1964, the archaeologists excavating the ancient Etruscan city of Pyrgi brought to light three ... more In 1964, the archaeologists excavating the ancient Etruscan city of Pyrgi brought to light three golden plates. Two of the plates were written in Etruscan, while the third one had a Phoenician inscription on it. The archaeologists suspected immediately that the longer Etruscan inscription and the Phoenician text might be related. Yet, scholars' hopes that the promising text of the Etruscan plate might have been an Etruscan kind of "Rosetta stone" were dashed to the ground. They realized very soon that the two texts were -at best -a paraphrasis of each other but they contained no literal translation which might have offered a key to Etruscan hermeneutics. Since then, no author was able to offer a reliable interpretation of the Etruscan plate, dealing with the donation made by the Etruscan chieftain or "king" of the important city of Caere, Thefariei Velianas, to the Phoenician goddess ʿAštart. We therefore decided to reexamine the plates "from scratch". As a first step, we went through extant translations of the Phoenician inscription and we discovered that some of its terms had been misunderstood and/or mistranslated. After preparing a new and more reliable translation of the Phoenician lamina, we used it as a key to compare and translate the doubtful expressions of the Etruscan text. We are now glad to publish our results that represent the first integral and -in our humble opinion -creditable translation of these laminae.

Magyar Nyelvőr 108. évf. 1. sz., 1984

Egy magyar-argó kifejezés

Quaderni Patavini di Linguistica No. 3, 1982

Etimologia del nome del lago Balaton.

Atti del IV Congresso Internazionale di Studi Ungheresi, 1996

Una delle questioni che più hanno sollecitato la fantasia degli studiosi è quella relativa alla r... more Una delle questioni che più hanno sollecitato la fantasia degli studiosi è quella relativa alla religione che gli antichi ungheresi praticavano al momento della conquista della patria. Su questo tema sono stati versati fiumi di inchiostro. E' un ben strano fenomeno questo: le ipotesi e le teorie più ardite si sviluppano proprio in quei campi dello scibile laddove è disponibile il minor numero di dati, e in modo particolare quando si tratta di dati poco affidabili. Si veda ad esempio la storia della poesia epica ungherese, dove la letteratura pseudoscientifica sull'argomento riempie interi scaffali nelle biblioteche senza che sia mai stato possibile dimostrare, fosse anche con un solo minuscolo frammento, che gli antichi Magiari conoscevano la poesia epica; esistono grossi volumi che disquisiscono sulla mitologia ugrofinnica, senza che ci si sia mai posta la domanda se i popoli ugrofinnici abbiano mai posseduto una loro mitologia comune, e via dicendo.

Balkan Studies - Thessaloniki, 1989

Un elemento ascitizio di alcune lingue slave, germaniche e semitiche derivato dal nome di un anti... more Un elemento ascitizio di alcune lingue slave, germaniche e semitiche derivato dal nome di un antico nummo aureo

ETNIJE U PROŠLOSTI, 2000

Avec le développement des études historiques on assiste à l'apparition des premières conjectures-... more Avec le développement des études historiques on assiste à l'apparition des premières conjectures-souvent fort féeriques-sur l'origine des Étrusques. L'approche relativement scientifique à la question des origines faisait son entrée à partir du XVIII e siècle en se dirigeant sur trois diverses théories qui prévoyaient des origines orientales, septentrionales ou bien autochtones. Aux trois thèses portant sur les origines des Étrusques, Massimo Pallottino avait opposé la nécessité d'éviter l'application de simplismes schématiques pour un problème à la complexité remarquable. À son avis, le procès de formation de la nation étrusque ne pouvait avoir lieu que sur le territoire de l'Étrurie propre, et dans ce procès les échanges culturels et commerciaux avec les voyageurs provenants de la Mer Égéenne (attirés par les ressources métallifères de l'île d'Elbe, des Collines Métallifères, des Monts de la Tolfa) ont joué un rôle très important. Les caractéristiques orientales de leur culture-selon Pallottino-étaient dues à une influence culturelle qui avait été absorbée et faite propre par les Étrusques, plutôt qu'à une origine orientale de ce peuple. À notre avis, les complexes caractéristiques culturelles et linguistiques de ce peuple ne peuvent être expliqués que par la summe d'une série de facteurs, selon l'opinion de Pallottino, auxquels il faudra toutefois ajouter l'englobement de plusieurs peuples ou bien groupes de population, parlant des langues différentes, qui ont laissé des traces très évidentes dans les coutumes des Étrusques si bien que dans le corpus épigraphique. MOTS CLÉS : Étrusques, origines ethnicité, langue, culture, archéologie. Ἄνευ πτερῶν ζητεῖς ἵπτασθαι Sine pennis volare haud facile est (Plautus, Poen. 871) Le problème de l'origine des peuples du monde italique a stimulé d'une même façon la curiosité et l'intérêt soit des auteurs anciens que des historiens modernes. Les uns et les autres ont essayé de fournir une explication basée soit sur leurs connaissances que sur leurs convictions. Les anciens pensaient que l'origine d'une ethnie ou d'un peuple tirait ses souches d'une certaine personne ou bien d'un événement très précis. Les anciens Grecs voyaient l'origine d'une πόλις comme le résultat d'une κτίσις ('fondation') due à un éciseur ('colonisateur' < οἰκίζεω 'coloniser') comme dans le cas de Thésée pour Athènes ou Cadmus pour Thèbes. De même, ils imaginaient que les peuples tiraient leurs origines de la migration d'un ἀρχέγετες, c'est-à-dire d'un chef mythique ou an archégon (ἀρχέγονος, à savoir « fondateur d'une race »). Par la suite de cela, ils pensaient que tous les peuples de l'Italie tiraient leurs souches de plusieurs migrations qui avaient eu lieu par voie maritime. Ils modelaient l'idée de ces migrations sur le schéma des migrations grecques qui avaient eu lieu dans l'âge historique mais en les situant dans l'âge héroïque et en les attribuant à des peuples divers (

Drafts by Paolo P. Agostini

Pagan rites of the "Huns" of the Caucasus