Re: Lexicons and Langauge Borrowing

I wrote:
> I don't borrow words from any natlang,
> at least at a conscious level.
Now I remembered I had some unconscious loans or
similarities noted in an old text file. Here are some:

In Drasele'q:

Almost all the interrogative pronouns begin with /q/,
deriving from protolanguage words in /kw/, just like the
Latin pronouns!

The stem PARREN "fertile" looks similar to its English
opposite "barren".

The preposition _aus_ "out of" is practically the same
as German _aus_.

The negative prefix (h)u- looks suspiciously similar to
the Quenya negative prefix u'-.

The adverb _nef_ "far (away)" is practically the opposite of
Sindarin _nef_ /nev/ "on this side".

The stem GAL "gold" looks quite like Sindarin CAL, GAL "light,
brightness", or Quenya MAL "gold". I really like this combination
of sounds for bright beautiful things.

DIN "star, twinkling brightness" is practically identical to
Quenya TIN "twinkling"

The stem ANKWA "tooth", as in Drasele'q _an(a)q_ looks a lot like
Proto-Elvish ANAK, Quenya _anca_, "jaw"

The stem ORN "stone" looks similar to Quenya _ondo_

RAT(A) "highness, greatness" is very similar to Quenya ar-, tar-
as in _Aratar_.

The group plural suffix -hadh is obviously related to Sindarin
-ath, -(h)oth

And the most spectacular one: Drasele'q _sauran_ "shadow" *has* to
have any unconscious relationship with _Sauron_! (though the meanings
are completely different).

Have any of you notices such things in your own conlangs?
I think it's a very interesting phenomenon.


--Pablo Flores

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 Stewart's Law of Retroaction:
  It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.