Grecka nazwa ślimaka σέσῑλος i jej indoeuropejska geneza

The author discusses three Ancient Greek names for ‘snail with a spiral shell’: (1) σέσῑλος, (2) σέσηλος and (3) σέσελις (gen. sg. σεσέλιτος). It is suggested that the first name σέσῑλος is of Ionic origin (with the regular representation of the diphthong ει as ῑ), the second one σέσηλος belongs to the Doric heritage (see the Laconian gloss in Hesychius’ lexicon: σέσηλοι· κοχλίαι. Λάκωνες), and the third σέσελις represents a purely Attic form. The Proto-Greek archetype should be reconstructed as *σέσελϝος (m.) ‘snail’. In fact, the disappearance of the glide *ϝ in the Ancient Greek dialects causes the lengthening of the original vowel *ε to ει (later ῑ) in Ionic, to η in Doric. Only the Attic dialect preserves the short vowel ε with no change, see e.g. Ionic ξεῖνος, Doric ξῆνος, Attic ξένος (m.) ‘guest-friend; guest; stranger, foreigner, refugee’ < Proto-Greek *ξένϝος, see Myc. Gk. ke-se-nu-wo [ksenwos], Aeolic ξέννος, Corcyrean πρόξενϝος (m.) ‘public guest, deputy’. The archetype *σέσελϝος was created as a reduplicated form of the Indo-European verbal root *tsel- ‘to creep, crawl’, cf. Old Indic (Vedic) tsáru- m. (u-stem) ‘a crawling animal’ (< IE. *tsélus m. ‘snail’). A related term with no reduplication is attested in the Hesychian glossary (σ-374): σελάτης· κοχλίας, as well as in the Celtic languages, e.g. [1] MIr. selide ‘snail’, Mod. Ir. seilide, seilchide, seilmide, slimide ‘id.’ (< Celtic *selantī- < IE. *tsel-n̥t-ī); [2] OIr. selige m. (gl. testudo) ‘tortoise’, MIr. seilche ‘tortoise; snail’, Scottish Gaelic seilcheag ‘snail’ (< Celtic *selaki̯ās < IE. *tselə2ki̯ās).