<foreigner> → mythical giant 14 realizations
ACCEPTED Realization 1
type Borrowing
language 1 Ancient Greek
language 2 Georgian
lexeme 1 Κιμμέριοι
lexeme 2 gmiri
meaning 1 Cimmerian
direction →
meaning 2 giant, hero
reference
comment Also Osset. gumeri 'giant', 'blockhead, bonehead'
ACCEPTED Realization 2
type Semantic evolution
language 1 Ancient Greek
language 2 Bulgarian
lexeme 1 ἕλληνες
lexeme 2 elini
meaning 1 the Greeks
direction →
meaning 2 giants
reference
comment The Bulgarian word is dialectal (East.)
ACCEPTED Realization 3
type Semantic evolution
language French
lexeme 1 hongre
lexeme 2 ogre
meaning 1 a Hungarian man
direction →
meaning 2 orc
reference
comment
ACCEPTED Realization 4
type Semantic evolution
language German
lexeme 1 Hunne
lexeme 2 Hüne
meaning 1 Hun
direction →
meaning 2 giant
reference
comment
ACCEPTED Realization 5
type Semantic evolution
language 1 Latin
language 2 Bulgarian
lexeme latini
meaning 1 residents of Latium, late romans
direction →
meaning 2 giants латини-исполини
reference
comment Glare 1006
ACCEPTED Realization 6
type Borrowing
language 1 Latin
language 2 Old East Slavic
lexeme 1 spali
lexeme 2 исполинъ
meaning 1 a tribe that lived in the Black Sea region. It was conquered by the Goths in the II century
direction →
meaning 2 giant
reference
comment The ethnonym is present in the works of Jordan ("Гетика", 28: ad gentem Spalorum adveniunt), it is identified with the tribe of σπόροι, mentioned by Procopiu of Caesaria. It gave also the Old Pol. stolim, stołym, stolin, stwolin ‘giant’, Kash. stolem ‘giant’. Срезневский 1, 1130-1131, Черных 1, 359, Журавев 2007, 97
ACCEPTED Realization 7
type Borrowing
language 1 Latin
language 2 Ukrainian
lexeme 1 Veletabi
lexeme 2 велет, велетень
meaning 1 a west slavonic tribe
direction →
meaning 2 giant
reference
comment Also the Rus. Dial. велет, волот 'giant'
ACCEPTED Realization 8
type Borrowing
language 1 Old East Slavic
language 2 Church Slavonic
lexeme 1 чудь
lexeme 2 чоудъ
meaning 1 Thoods, a Baltic Finnish tribe
direction →
meaning 2 giant
reference
comment Журавлев 2007, 97
ACCEPTED Realization 9
type Polysemy
language 1 Old East Slavic
language 2 Russian
lexeme 1 дулебы
lexeme 2 dulep
meaning 1 a Slavic tribe
direction →
meaning 2 a tall and silly person
reference
comment The second word is dialectal (Kursk)
ACCEPTED Realization 10
type Borrowing
language 1 Old East Slavic
language 2 Czech
lexeme 1 обре
lexeme 2 obr
meaning 1 avars
direction →
meaning 2 giant
reference
comment Pol. olbrzym ‘giant’, High Lus. hober ‘giant’, Slovak. obor, obrín ‘giant’, Sloven. óber ‘giant’ Журавлев 2007, 97-98
ACCEPTED Realization 11
type Semantic evolution
language 1 Old Persian
language 2 Farsi
lexeme 1 parthavan
lexeme 2 pählivân
meaning 1 Parthian
direction →
meaning 2 hero, athlete
reference
comment Журавлев 2005, 547
ACCEPTED Realization 12
type Polysemy
language Romanian
lexeme jidov
meaning 1 jew (dialect., In the standard lang. evreu )
direction →
meaning 2 fairy tale giant
reference DEX98
comment Also the East.-Bulg. (д)жидове ‘giants’, Serb. dial. џдове 'giants'
ACCEPTED Realization 13
type Borrowing
language 1 Scythian
language 2 Classical Armenian
lexeme 1 sāka
lexeme 2 skay (սկայ)
meaning 1 Scythian(s)
direction →
meaning 2 giant skay anari (սկայ անարի)
huge giant
reference
comment J̌ahukyan 2010, 683, Журавлев 2005, 547. In Classical Armenian was also hskay (հսկայ) 'giant'(h- is intensifying prefix). In Modern Armenian hska (հսկա) 'giant' (Galstjan 1984, 429). Alternatively Classical Armenian skay probably borrowed from a Middle Iranian descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian *káwiš 'seer, poet', 'institutor of religious rites'[Sanskrit kaví 'poet', Avestan kauui 'poet, bard', Middle Persian kay 'title of the dynasty of Wištāsp, Kayanian', Persian kay, Parthian kaw 'prince, lord; giant', Middle Persian kaw 'prince, lord; giant', Sogdian qwy 'giant'] with the augmentative prefix s- (Olsen 1999, 906; Szemerényi 1970, 426).
ACCEPTED Realization 14
type Semantic evolution
language Ukrainian
lexeme 1 varjah
lexeme 2 varjah, varjaha
meaning 1 Varangian, a person from the Scandinavian tribe
direction →
meaning 2 husky, sturdy
reference
comment The second meaning is dialectal Журавлев 2007, 98

© Anna A. Zalizniak et al. 2000-2025