Re: Delexicalization of left & right

>Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:
>Some idle thoughts: is Latin dexter possibly related to the IE
>root ?*deik 'to point'?  The Romance langs. adapted
directus 'straight' >for 'right', IE *reg 'rule', no?

According to the AHD appendix, the PIE roots *deik- and *deks- have
nothing in common.  The *deks- root evolved, in English, solely into
the "dexter" words.

The "original" meaning of *reg- was "to move in a straight line."
There are a host of derivatives: rect-, -ric, reg-, raj, rake, rank,
reck-, rog-.

In Biblical Hebrew (I know nothing about modern Hebrew):
qedem = front, aforetime & EAST.
negeb = Negev & SOUTH.
yam = sea & WEST.
slim = left & NORTH.

yad-slim = left hand.

yamin = right hand & SOUTH is not related to yam = sea.  It comes
from the verb aman = to be firm or constant, either because it is
the hand used for swearing an oath or, according to some, because it
is the stronger of the two.  BTW, also the source of our
English "amen."

Forgive me for not including the vowel points.

I remember that, on the wall in our Hebrew classroom at Cath. U.,
there was a map of Europe & the Near East from an Arabic point of
view.  The south was at the top of the map.  A bit confusing until
you got the hang of it!

Charlie

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