Mellow thoughts
The Persian link in the etymology of “lullaby”

October 18, 2005
iranian.com

I stand accused of indulging in “folk etymology.” I do not know if the charge is brought because I dabble in etymology itself or that I write about it in a folksy way. Regardless, the label is derogatory and claims that I am not supposed to be dabbling in this line of inquiry, because I am not a “professional” or “expert,” or because I do it in an “unscientific” manner. One detractor has written to say that language and etymology are very complex fields – as if this author or his readers need to be reminded of that stark fact.

Perhaps it might help the assessment of my work if I disclosed that I base my conclusions on “preponderance of the evidence” and some times where research fails me I take a leap of faith, which my detractor call “guesswork.” There is nothing wrong with a hunch or guesswork, I say. Informed guesswork is even better. If the language “experts” require proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” they are in the wrong courtroom. All this from a source of “experts” whose “science” relies so much on proto-this and proto-that. I would not call their science “pseudo” but, boy, am I tempted.

Well, folks, in this week’s mailbag I received a note from one folksy Esfandiar, who wrote “You write very interesting articles, I look forward to reading your next jewels.” He also offered the suspicion that the name Sakartvelo, which the Georgians (Gorjis) call their country might relate to the name Saka and the place-name Sakarta, of which I have written before.

He further offered that the word “skatina” or “scythian” in Russian means “beast” as in a “vicious animal” and that could have been related to the savage character of the Saka. The points are well taken. We know that the Saka, who had descended into Media from the Caucasus were pushed out thirty years later back into the Caucasus by the Medians. They may have been the predecessors to the present-day Alan, or Eran, which the Mede were known as before they came to be known as Mede.

My response to Esfandiar did not contain any new discoveries or observations that I have not addressed in previous writings. The e-mail from my Lor friend, Omranfeili, on the other hand, sent me to closet in search of the etymology of the word lis, which in Farsi (and Lori and Kordi dialects) means “lick,” the act of passing a tongue over or along. He inquired about the relation between the English word “lick” and the Persian word lis, as in kaseh-lis (literally lick-dish or parasite in English).

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English “lick” comes from Original Teutonic word likkon, which derived from the Old Aryan root “ligh” also found in the Sanskrit as rih or lih. I would explain the relation between lick and lis as such: The Old Aryan “ligh” became lish and this latter became the Old Slovenic word lizhati. In other European languages the sound “gh” of the “ligh” became “kh” as in Greek and “k” or “g” in Latin and other tongues. The French leche still resembles the Persian lis(h).

Now, my non-scientific friends will no doubt query if the Persian lis meant “tongue” and the verb “lis zadan” meant to stroke with one’s tongue. I may also add that the word lesan in Arabic means tongue (as in language). I wonder if Arabic took lesan from the Persian lis? Maybe.

Another word in English that shares its origin with Persian is the word “knee.” In Farsi the word is zanou. The French call it genou. In Original Teutonic (German) it was knewo; in Sanskrit it was janu. The Greeks called it gnu, substituting g for j. In Old Persian it would have been also janou, with which the Greeks would have been intimately familiar;  zanou is probably the Arabified of janou.

I come by no particular scientific rhyme or reason to the etymology of the English word “lullaby,” a soothing song to calm down kids. This is another case of the Persian in English. The word comes from the English “lull,” which means singing one to sleep, to soothe, to pacify, to stupefy (may be lullaby=lull a baby). It does not take much scientific vigor to see the connection between this word “lull” and the Persian “loul,” as in “mellow” In the Iranian tradition, the ordinary description “loul” or extraordinary “loul-e loul” applies to the state of mellowness brought about by consumption of opium or booze. In English, too, reference is made to lull being a soothing drink (nepenthe), or one slipping back into an opium lull. 

I recall among many Iranians the practice of pacifying or soothing children by placing a pinch of opium about their teething gums, some used the opium to calm a colicky child. I believe this practice is the core of the ritual that my Lori etymologist friend pointed out as lavah-lavah among the Lors. The louling or lulling of babies, accompanied by a song or two, and we have lullaby. The Oxford English Dictionary does not have a trace for lullaby and lull. I believe, until the true and original owner of the root word “lull” stands up, this to should be viewed as a case of the Persian in English.

Please do not ask me if the Persian luleh (pipe, roll or any cylindrical object) is related to loul, unless you are prepared to accept the unscientific explanation that the Farsi loul refers also to a unit of opium proffered in the form of a roll.

About
Guive Mirfendereski is a professorial lecturer in international relations and law and is the principal artisan at trapworks.com. Born in Tehran in 1952, he is a graduate of Georgetown University's College of Arts and Sciences (BA), Tufts University's Fletcher School (PhD, MALD, MA) and Boston College Law School (JD). He is the author of A Diplomatic History of the Caspian Sea >>> Features in iranian.com