1. Typological approach to the lexical fields of LOVE and MERCY in Baltic-Finnic Sven-Erik Soosaar Institute of the Estonian Language, Tallinn, svenerik@eki.ee Semantic changes in Finnic: *arm (*POOR, MISER LOVE MERCY; LOVE SAVE SAVINGS, BELONGINGS) *armatse- (LOVE MAKE LOVE) *rakas- (WANTING DEAR/LOVE) *hala- (CRY MERCY) *halu- (BURN WANTING EMBRACE) PAIN) *suvai- (LIKE LOVE / TOLERATE) Semantic changes in Latin amo > amicus (LOVE FRIEND) gratia (HEAVY GREET, PRAISE GRACE) caritas (EMBRACE LOVE; PRICE) Semantic changes in Greek. In Classical Greek three verbs are used in the meaning LOVE: erao, phileo, agapao. In prebiblical Greek the diufference between the meaning of these verbs is pale and fluid (Stauffler, TDNT). In Koine the meaning is diversified. For biblical Greek agapao is most important and is used in LXX for translation of ahabh and its derivations. *agapa- (*BIG *ADMIRE LOVE) Semantic changes in Germanic: *leubh (> Germ lieb-) (*WANT LOVE) German Gnade is of uncertain origin, but it has been connected with IE *nā- to help, being a verbal derivation *ga-næþōn. The word is attested since Chrstianity was adopted and is probably been specially coined to fit into Christian system of concepts. Semantic changes in Hebrew: ahabh (*SKIN LOVE) This is a parallel to the semantic change in Finnic *iha (SKIN DESIRE). This poster illustrates ongoing research on some semantic changes of Finnic stems of lexical fields of LOVE and MERCY and their possible origins and parallels in other languages. 2. Theoretical backgrounds The parting point is lexical field (Wortfeld) theory as developed by Jost Trier and Horst Geckeler. followed by analysis of semantic changes due to metaphorical mapping of one domain to another, as described in Sweetser (1993) and Brinton and Traugott (2006). 3. Christianity as a catalyst of semantic change? In Bible translation languages of two typologically different language families have influenced Finnic: Semitic (Hebrew) and Indo-European (NT Greek (Koine), Latin and German. Earlier Russian influ- ence should also be taken into account. First preserved partial bible translations in Finnic are Finnish from 16th century and Estonian from the 17th century. These are first longer examples of written Finnish and Estonian evidencing coinage of terms of christian terminology using preextant stems/roots and rich resources of derivational suffixes. E.g. root *arm-, a Germanic loan, is used in the meanings of love and mercy both in Finnish and Estonian. Comparing the earliest Finnish and Estonian Bible translations with later ones we can see, that the there are more similari- ties in terminology between the two languages in early translations. In later translations the meaning of Finnish and Estonian words have developed in different directions and some stems were replaced with other ones, e.g. armas > rakas. 1. Focus The meanings of the stems and their derivations are subject to change. Other stems of the semantic field: IHA- (thoroughly analyzed in Rintala 2003), LEMPI-, KALLIS, SÄÄLI, MIELI- (Aunus mielištia) etc. Several of the stems of these semantic fields are borrowed from Germanic. Also in other Fenno-Ugric languages stems with meaning to love are often loans from other languages, like Turkic (Mari, Udmurt) or Slavic (Komi). 4.1. Semantic changes in Finnic: *arm (*POOR, MISER LOVE MERCY; LOVE SAVE SAVINGS, BELONGINGS) *armatse- (LOVE MAKE LOVE) *rakas- (WANTING DEAR/LOVE) *hala- (CRY MERCY) *halu- (BURN WANTING EMBRACE) PAIN) *suvai- (LIKE LOVE / TOLERATE) 4.2. Semantic changes in Latin amo > amicus (LOVE FRIEND) gratia (HEAVY GREET, PRAISE GRACE) caritas (EMBRACE LOVE; PRICE) 4.3. Semantic changes in Greek In Classical Greek three verbs are used in the meaning LOVE: erao, phileo, agapao. In prebiblical Greek the difference between the meanings of these verbs is pale and fluid (Stauffler, TDNT). In Koine the meanings are diversified. For biblical Greek agapao is most important and is used in LXX for translation of Hebrew ahabh and its derivations. *agapa- (BIG ADMIRE LOVE) 4. Semantic changes 4.4. Semantic changes in Germanic *leubh (> Germ lieb-) (*WANT LOVE) German Gnade is of uncertain origin, but it has been connected with IE *nā- to help, being a verbal derivation *ga-næþōn. The word is attested since Chrstianity was adopted and is probably been specially coined to fit into Christian system of concepts. 4.5. Semantic changes in Semitic (Hebrew) ahabh (*SKIN LOVE) This is a parallel to the semantic change in Finnic *iha (SKIN DESIRE). References Brinton, Laurel J. Traugott, Elizabeth 2006, Lexicalization and Language Change, Cambridge. Rintala, Päivi 2003, Iha köyhän laihakin. Helsinki. Sweetser, Eve 1990, From Etymology to pragmatics. A – archaic * – yes Ø – no EstonianVoticFinnishKarelianIzhorianVepsianLivonian armo / armas******* armastus*ØØØØ** arma-**Ø*ØØØ armuta-AØA*ØØØ rakas- ØØ**ØØØ rakasta- ØØ**ØØØ hala- *Ø*ØØØØ halasta- *ØØØØØØ suva- ******Ø 5. Stems and their distribution