Miscellanea etymologica

[Monolith]

[a thread for etymologies]

Originally Posted by Llywarch Hen

Not really the best place to ask, but is it true that there was a Derventio somewhere in Illyria in the Roman period. It amazed me to see it on a map once, given that England is full of River Derwents...

Derventio sounds very familiar.. Perhaps it has something to do with this town in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Derventa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But then again, it might not have anything to do with it since dervo is a Slavic word for wood, which in turn is a derivative from PIE doru.

May I suggest the mods to transfer parts of this thread to Slavija/South, or History subforum?

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Monolith

Derventio sounds very familiar.. Perhaps it has something to do with this town in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Derventa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Absolutely not. Derventa is an Ottoman word, from Turkish derbend, dervent (something like "steep cliff"), which in its turn is a loanword from Persian darband (something like: "closed gates"). From roots dar ("in") and band ("to bind").

Originally Posted by Monolith

May I suggest the mods to transfer parts of this thread to Slavija/South, or History subforum?

It became hard because often one and the same post contains elements of both discussion about imperialism and other things.

[Llywarch Hen]

Originally Posted by Marulus

Absolutely not. Derventa is an Ottoman word, from Turkish derbend, dervent (something like "steep cliff"), which in its turn is a loanword from Persian darband (something like: "closed gates"). From roots dar ("in") and band ("to bind").

Bloody hell, that's a shame! I thought it seemed far too good to be true!

Dar is the usual word for gate in the region at the far end of the Ottoman world, yes. There's a Derbent down in Azerbaijan where the Caucasus meets the Caspian. The Georgian Military Highway goes thru the Daryal - the Gate of the Alans, which allowed the Ossets to spread on both sides of the same Range.

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Llywarch Hen

Bloody hell, that's a shame! I thought it seemed far too good to be true!

Dar is the usual word for gate in the region at the far end of the Ottoman world, yes. There's a Derbent down in Azerbaijan where the Caucasus meets the Caspian. The Georgian Military Highway goes thru the Daryal - the Gate of the Alans, which allowed the Ossets to spread on both sides of the same Range.

Dar means both "in" and "gate" in Persian.

[Marcus Marulus]

Some (alleged) Illyrian roots:

Illyrian