Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The PriestBorrow, George
General
Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest
Borrow, George
England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
‘Pannam!’ said I, ‘pannam! evidently connected with, if not derived from,
the Latin panis; even as the word tanner, which signifieth a sixpence, is
connected with, if not derived from, the Latin tener, which is itself
connected with, if not derived from, tawno or tawner, which, in the
language of Mr. Petulengro, signifieth a sucking child. Let me see, what
is the term for bread in the language of Mr. Petulengro? Morro, or
manro, as I have sometimes heard it called; is there not some connection
between these words and panis? Yes, I think there is; and I should not
wonder if morro, manro, and panis were connected, perhaps derived from,
the same root; but what is that root? I don’t know—I wish I did; though,
perhaps, I should not be the happier. Morro—manro! I rather think morro
is the oldest form; it is easier to say morro than manro. Morro! Irish,
aran; Welsh, bara; English, bread. I can see a resemblance between all
the words, and pannam too; and I rather think that the Petulengrian word
is the elder. How odd it would be if the language of Mr. Petulengro
should eventually turn out to be the mother of all the languages in the
world; yet it is certain that there are some languages in which the terms
for bread have no connection with the word used by Mr. Petulengro,
notwithstanding that those languages, in many other points, exhibit a
close affinity to the language of the horse-shoe master: for example,
bread, in Hebrew, is Laham, which assuredly exhibits little similitude to
the word used by the aforesaid Petulengro. In Armenian it is—’
‘Zhats!’ said the stranger, starting up. ‘By the Patriarch and the Three
Holy Churches, this is wonderful! How came you to know aught of
Armenian?’
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
NEW ACQUAINTANCE—WIRED CASES—BREAD AND WINE—ARMENIAN COLONIES—LEARNING
WITHOUT MONEY—WHAT A LANGUAGE—THE TIDE—YOUR FOIBLE—LEARNING OF THE
HAIKS—PRESSING INVITATION
Just as I was about to reply to the interrogation of my new-formed
acquaintance, a man with a dusky countenance, probably one of the
Lascars, or Mulattos, of whom the old woman had spoken, came up and
whispered to him, and with this man he presently departed, not however
before he had told me the place of his abode, and requested me to visit
him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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