Armenian-Germanic Lexical Isoglosses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1609.01Keywords:
Indo-European linguistics, Armenian, Germanic languages, semantic isogloss, lexical divergenceAbstract
The study of lexical isoglosses in Indo-European comparative linguistics traditionally focuses on shared inheritance and subgrouping. While Armenian has been extensively compared with branches like Greek and Indo-Iranian, Armenian-Germanic correspondences remain comparatively underexplored. This article reexamines inherited Armenian-Germanic lexemes from common Proto-Indo-European roots, shifting the focus to patterned semantic divergence. Using etymological dictionaries and modern diachronic semantics, the study analyzes agricultural and material culture lexemes (e.g., asr 'wool', gaṙn 'lamb', tuar 'cattle', amal 'to pour', t'ek'el 'to weave/sharpen', azazel 'to dry', ber- 'to bear', mit 'mind'). The analysis identifies a recurrent semantic asymmetry: Armenian frequently retains verbal, process-oriented, and materially grounded meanings, while Germanic reflexes tend to lexicalize nominalized results, economic abstractions, and object-centered outcomes. Consequently, the article introduces the "semantic isogloss," defined as a structurally recurrent divergence in the semantic development of shared root reflexes across branches. The examined material demonstrates that these divergences follow typologically stable pathways of semantic restructuring, reflecting branch-specific specialization rather than genetic proximity. By situating these correspondences within a theoretically grounded model of semantic change, this study highlights Armenian as a vital witness to the systematic, inherited semantic differentiation within Indo-European lexical evolution.
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