Post #1247782

𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗘𝘁𝘆𝗺𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘆, 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 English "bellows" and "belly" come via Anglo-Saxon beliġ and Proto-Germanic *balgi- from Proto-Indo-European *bʰólǵʰ- "bag", perhaps something like this (listen): 🔊 bellows-from-PIE-bholgh.wav This simulation of *bʰólǵʰ- has initial [b], not [bʱ], as it's computed from recordings of Irish bolg, "bag", also a cognate. The same PIE root developed into Persian بالش bālish "pillow", like this: 🔊 PIE-bholgh-to-Persian-balesh.wav Related words are found in other Iranian languages, e.g. Pashto بالښت balacht, Ossetian baʒ/baz, as well as in Slavic, e.g. Slovenian blazina. When I originally posted about this in November 2021, the linguist Magnus Pharao @magnuspharao.bsky.social pointed out that Danish bælg (seed pod of legumes and bellows) is also a cognate! @linguistics #linguistics #etymology #EnglishLanguage #AcousticPhonetics #phonetics #ProtoIndoEuropean #Iranian #Persian