Abstract

In view of the fact that another word for ‘mourn,’ namely Gr. ποθέω, is cognate with θέσσασθαι O. Ir. guidiu, Welsh gweddïo, Avest. jaiδyāmi, all meaning ‘beg pray,’ and with Lith. gedéti ‘mourn,’ it will perhaps not seem improbable that Lat. lugeo is cognate with Lett, lūdzu ‘I beg, pray’ . The infinitive of the Lettish verb is lūgt, and contains the same stem lūg- as Lat. lūctus . The form lūdzu comes in the first place from *lūg-yō, but the type of present to which lūdzu belongs in Lettish results from a fusion of earlier types which have remained distinct in Lithuanian. One of these types is that of Lith. aviù , which, according to Bezzenberger, BB. 26. 169 sqq., and Schulze, Sitzungsber. d. Preuss. A kad., 1904, 1439 sqq., corresponds to the second conjugation in Latin. If that correspondence is accepted it is at least possible that the Lett, form lūdzu corresponds exactly to Lat. lugeo