A note on the words in the Baltic languages for some of the most ancient European grain legume crops

Abstract

Abstract The words denoting the most ancient European grain legumes, such as ‘pea’, ‘lentil’ or ‘faba bean’, in both extinct and living Baltic languages confirm that these crops were cultivated among the ancestors of the modern Lithuanians and Latvians. The words denoting ‘pea’, such as Lithuanian žirnis and Latvian zirņi, are derived from the Proto-Baltic *žir̂n-ia- and the Proto-Indo-European *g'er[a]n-, denoting grain. The Proto-Indo-European root denoting ‘lentil’, *lent-, gave the Proto-Baltic *leñšia- and the modern Lithuanian lęšis and the Latvian lēca. The linguistic evidence confirms that the Old Balts transferred both grain legume crops and their names to their Finno-Ugric neighbours.