Talk:duellum

Etymology? Mallerd 20:27, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

I've added it. Took me a long time to find one though. Most pages only say "vide bellum". --BiT 20:48, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, does the ellum part mean something like parties or factions? Mallerd 23:27, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Hm.. I.. don't know :\ I'll check it out --BiT 23:35, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

I found this:

Etymology: ME duelle < ML duellum < OL dvellum (L bellum), war < IE base *dāu-, *deu-, to injure, destroy, burn > Sans dū, pain, OE teona, harm

ctrl + f *dū-. Here the part that is explained sometimes as two means to torment to pain.

Many times in Latin, the suffix -um indicates an action of something. So perhaps, duellum, means the action of tormenting? Not necessarily a combination of dus and ellum.

Mallerd 12:26, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

The etymology currently given is nonsense. It doesn't come from Sanskrit (how would that even work?) and it has no relation to words for "two". This goes back to PIE *du-, *deu- meaning torment or pain, as explained above. Widsith 12:42, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Please refrain from using terms like nonsense. We all do our best, we can make mistakes. Mallerd 14:04, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

It is a common error to confuse cognates (cousins) with etymons (ancestors). The Sanskrit would be a cognate but not an etymon. I don’t have access to a Sanskrit source, so I don’t know how accurate it is. —Stephen 15:45, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

I think this would be a good etymology:

Mediaeval Latin duellum (fight between two men, under influence from duo) < Old Latin duellum (=bellum, war) < Proto-Indo European base *dāu-, *deu- (to injure, destroy, burn). Cognate with Ancient Greek δύη (misery, pain) and with w:Duellona (goddess of war).

Thanks :D Mallerd 16:08, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Widsith for calling it nonsense ;) I took it almost verbatim from L&S dictionary. --BiT 02:42, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Hiya, sorry if I offended anyone - "nonsense" was not intended to be an insult! Widsith 12:24, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

No problem :P I don't get offended with such trivial things like discussions about Latin related things. --BiT 07:52, 8 November 2007 (UTC)