root words

i think its interesting that the Proto-Indo-European root deh₂- and
deh₂y- mean “to share, divide” while the infinitely adjacent deh₂p- means “to sacrifice, lose.”

that there’s a distinction made there, paper thin, about the size of a standard letter-- envelope and all-- and it reads the same as you might think it does.

It reads like grief, to me, but that might be my glasses.

when deh₂y- comes to Old English, it forms time and tide.

time as in “temporal interval” and “limited space of time.” and tide as in “recurring interval” and “season.”

both function to divide our experience of the present moment into separate chunks.

This one is limited. this one comes back.

they’re different, see?

In Sanskrit deh₂y- becomes threefold: dītí, dyáti, and dātrá.

dītí means “brightness” and “time”; dyáti “cuts, clips, mows, & separates”, while dātrá indicates an “allotted share”.

i think of crops, here, of harvest.

i think of pulling up handfuls of grass on the soccer field, of days that are entirely their own.

how they stretch onwards like sunset shadows, the end of a nice day.

how nice days are often shared.

think more than human here. think spirit world.

deh₂y- in Ancient Greek forms daíomai: “I divide, share;” & also “host,” a thought continued in días “feast” or “banquet.” then there’s daímōn, too, who enters with divinity: “god, goddess”; history: “departed soul”; and baggage: “demon.”

but Ancient Greeks had a very specific idea of what a demon was.

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the perspective of daemons as inspirational spirits called your Genius.

how one can share the weight of creativity with the idea itself, the spirit of it.

Now here comes deh₂p- - sour sport- which brings us Ancient Greek dáptō: “i eat, i devour” & “consume, corrode”; as well as dapánē: “cost, expenditure” & “extravagance.”

In Latin, dapnum becomes damnum: “damage, injury” & “(financial) loss” or “fine.”

There’s also Latin’s daps: “a sacrificial or solemn feast, religious banquet” and also “meal.” All of this from sacrifice; all of this to lose.

Something here about not having enough to eat.

Something here about hunger.

deh₂p- in Old English becomes tap: “hit lightly” and tip: “touch quietly, bump quietly.” & its on the tip of my tongue;

i touch grief quietly, i hit it lightly. It’s in my mouth.

in Gaelic deh₂p- becomes duan “song, poem.”

& isnt that interesting?

                                                                       isn’t that what this is?

all art featured by reuven evelyn (me)

see more of my work at rthwrms.com

thanks for reading <3

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