Bear - The one that does not eat the honey

[Patol 326]

Slavic, Germanic, Baltic, Celtic languages, and even partially Indo-Iranian ones lost the original word for „bear”.

Most European peoples believed that saying something could make it appear. Even today some people react negatively when someone mentions death around a proverbial family hearth. That is why many euphemisms arose. One will likely hear that someone „passed away” or „is no longer with us”, although the more precise and unambiguous statement is simply that „death met them”. However, in this case we are not dealing with the disappearance of information, only with the creation of new expressions.

This phenomenon was mainly caused by fear of this powerful animal. After all, it is faster, larger, stronger, and better equipped for fighting than we are. When taken by surprise, humans have no chance against this shaggy beast, so the threat it posed was much greater than, for example, invoking an individual’s death.

But let us move on to the title of this topic. Different peoples found interesting ways to avoid „summoning” the bear:

Slavic languages (Czech: medvěd | Russian & Serbian: medved)
Here, the animal was described not by its appearance, but by its habit - eating honey: „the one eating honey”.

Germanic languages (English: bear | German: Bär | Dutch: beer | Scandinavian: björn, bjørn)
Instead of using the actual name of the animal, these peoples decided it was wiser to call it „the brown one”.

Baltic languages (Lithuanian: meška | Latvian: lācis)
In Lithuanian it most likely meant something like „soft creature” because of its fur. Latvian etymology is unclear, but we know it is not derived from the original word.

Celtic languages (Welsh: arth | Breton: arzh | Irish: mathúin)
Folk etymology in Welsh and Breton connects these with „strong” or „manly”. Irish mathúin means „fat”, literally „well-fat”.

Uralic languages (Finnish: karhu | Estonian: karu)
Here we find the meaning „rough” or „coarse”.

I continue circling around the title of this thread, but only now can I fully address it. There is a reason why I skipped Polish among the Slavic languages. The Lechitic peoples went a step further. After all, the beast or the forces that bring it could figure out whom one means by saying „the one eating honey”. Bears are known for that, and there are no honey badgers in Europe. Therefore, at some point people began to say „niedźwiedź”. „-dźwiedź” corresponds to Slavic medved, „nie” is a negation.
So that is how we get „the one who does NOT eat honey”.

 

[Emil 57]

Didn't ask.

[ShekelHaver 52]

This dude was alive in 2012