Cognate Set 6336 – Meaning: ant

IE-CoR reference form:
milingonë
IE-CoR reference language:
Albanian: Standard
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Loan event:
yes
Parallel loan event:
no
Loan source language:
Greek
Loan source lexeme belongs to cognate set:
*melit- [Proto-Indo-European]
Justification:
More precise origins uncertain, but possibly a loanword from Greek (cf. Orel 1998:257 and discussion in cognate set 6209).
Found in clades:
Albanian
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 1 clade by 1 lexeme.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
19   Albanian: Standard milingonë Other variants: milimangë; merimangë, merimagë, mirëmangë, merimajkë.Orel sees in these tabooistic transformations of *merming, borrowed < Mod. Greek μυρμήγκι 'id.'.Tsakonian Greek has μελιγκόνι /melingóni/ which is either a loan from Albanian or vice versa the loan source of the Albanian word what remains difficult to decide. If the Tsakonian word shows folk etymology with Greek méli 'honey', it would be more likely be assume Greek origin of the Albanian l-form.
References
  • Orel, Vladimir: 257
    Cf. s.v. Alb. merimangë 'spider' with variants merimagë, mirëmangë, milimangë, milingonë, and merimajkë, to be interpreted as tabooistic distortions of merming 'id.' borrowed from Modern Greek μυρμῆγγι 'ant, midget'.
  • Scarborough, Matthew:
    Probably a borrowing from Greek, if the etymology proposed by Andriotis (1974:370) for Tsakonian μελιγκόνι holds. Cf. discussion in at [cognate set 6209](cog-6209).