h34 wrote:Bodies of water
The semantic shifts and cognates are interesting with this set. For example, the word that means "well" in Finnic languages (Estonian
kaev, Veps
kaiv, Finnish
kaivo and so on) and in Northern Saami (
gáivo) means "spring" in several Eastern Saamic languages (Skolt
käivv, Kildin
ка̄ййв, etc). Kildin therefore uses a Russian loan for "well" (
ко̄лэц, from Russian
колодец) while Skolt differentiates a well (
čääʹcckäivv, "water-
käivv) from a spring (
tuõlddikäivv, "bubbling/boiling-
käivv) through the use of compound words.
The word that means "large river" in Saamic languages (Northern Saami
eatnu, Skolt
jäänn) is presumably related to the words for "mother" in those languages (Northern Saami
eadni, Skolt
jeäʹnn), as is the name of the only navigable river in Estonia (
Emajõgi , from
ema "mother"). I know that same analogy (mother = river, source of water/life) is used elsewhere too.
Laht means "bay, gulf" in Estonian and Finnish (
lahti) but "marshy meadow or low shore prone to flooding" in Veps. "Marshy meadow" is
luht in Estonian, but Skolt
luhtt and Kildin
луххт mean "bay, gulf".