Tetrasoma

I (Petr) coveted a positive peer review from my close (Slovenian) colleagues. More remote peers (in the Macedonian community) confirmed my paper about SLAVIC TETRASOMA PLUS QUINTESSENCE more fully and published it on their website. This paper was written from the bias of my Czech origins and speaks more authentically to some Slavs more than to others. Quoted from The Macedonian Digest.

Slavic tetrasoma plus quintessence

I am a Czech-American living in Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA.

I am writing a short paper with the proposition that the Four Elements (Earth – Water – Wind & Fire) Plus Quintessence — were NOT a Greek invention but a product of a Slavic mindset. The idea is especially poignant to Slavic peoples contiguous to the Greeks. Kindly read the short paper below and consider IF Macedonian has a word such as “VEDER” or in the case of Macedonian “VEDERTO” which fits the Slovenian definition as “Ether”. Even if modern Macedonian no longer has such a term, it remains quite likely that in antiquity IT HAD.

Veder/Veda = (v)ETER

My speculation that The FOUR ELEMENTS plus Quintessence are not the invention of a Greek mind but of a Slavic rationale as revealed by the ORIGINAL Etymology:

Certainly ETER came into Slavic from German (Ether) which got it from Latin (AEther) which got it from Greek (AEthir)…. But where did the Greeks get it?? from Slavic! VEDER The Greek term for the ancient FOUR ELEMENTS is Tetrasoma (Four Bodies). Plus they had PROPOSED a 5th Element = Quintessence or AEthir –(Latin AEther) (German/English = Ether) Slavic =Eter. (which Plato and Aristotle called IDEA (Slavic VEDA?) UEDA: in some dialects of Slovenian-very close to IDEA of the Greeks.

I had prognosticated that there would be in (some ancient) Slavic language a word which would be the foundation for the Greek AEthir and its derivatives (Aether, Ether, Eter). ALAS! I had found it! It is in Slovenian = “VEDER”. Modern physicists prognosticated that trans-uranium elements like Germanium or Americium would be found (or fabricated). They were pleased to be correct in their prediction. Now, I am trying to find out IF there are other “archaic” Slavic languages which have retained the Fifth Element in some form of VEDER.

In the process of searching for VEDER I have stumbled upon some interesting Hmmmms. Like what happens when you add the OPTIONAL V (as in On/Von-He, Os*m/Vos*m-Eight, Osa/Vosa-Wasp) to Slavic words (Loan-words) from Western Languages – which start with “EL”. These words take on a Slavic meaning of BIG or GRAND as they were intended to do in the Western Languages. It sort of works like the Hungarian “Nagy”(NAZ’) Thus Elephant becomes VELEphant and Elite becomes VELITE(L) {LEADER in Czech} “Velik…” .etc So, If you have knowledge of Slavic Languages and can identify a Slavic word like VEDER with its Slovenian definition which fits into my search for the FOUR ELEMENTS AND A SPARE please share that with me.

So… in form of questions can you answer…

1. Which Slavic language(s) can you provide?
2. Does that language have a term VATRA?
3. What is the term for “HARD”? TVRD? TRD?
4. What is the Lexime for WATER? VODA ?
5. What is the word for WIND? VITR? VETER?
6. What is the term for Quintessence? ETER?
7. Is there another (more Slavic) term for Eter? Such as the Slovenian word VEDER?
8. Should we accept that ONLY the very old and pristine Slovenian language had preserved the word “VEDER”????

Four elements and a spare

Tetrasoma as a Slavic Invention with the addition of AEther (Quintessence)

Abstract

The Slavic (or more specifically Czech) words for Earth, Water, Wind, Fire and AEther ALL have remarkably similar spellings and pronunciations. This short paper explores the underlying foundation for these common sound clusters: TVRDA, VODA(r), VETER, VATRA & ETER. In the final analysis it suggests that the original form of the quintessential element: Eter/Ether/AEther was the Slovenian-like: VEDER and/or VEDA.

The four elements plus a spare in Slavic etymology

As we study the modern periodic chart of (now more than 100) elements we may be struck by the fact that certain suffixes are used multiple times. An example of this is the “gen” ending in words like Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen. In German they are known as Wasserstoff, Sauerstoff and Stickstoff. Note that these all end in the English equivalent of “STUFF” as in Water-Stuff, Sour-Stuff and Choking-Stuff. In Czech these are known as Vodik, Kyslik and Dusik. In Slovenian these are known as Vodenec, Kislec and Dus`ec. (Yet another way of saying these in Slovenian is: Vodik, Kisik & Dusik). Now it is time to flash back to antiquity when our ancestors recognized existence in form of four elements (Solid-Earth, Liquid-Water, Gaseous-Air and Plasma-Fire). Nearly all of the ancient peoples also speculated about a Fifth Element = “Quintessence” or “AEther”.

In modern (scientific) parlance we may think of these as Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere, Magnetosphere and (using Teilhardian terminology) — “Noosphere”. In English the antique four elements: “Earth”, “Water”, “Air” and “Fire” do not all rhyme as do ones on the Medvedeleyev table: Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen. In German they – (fire, air, water, and earth), also do NOT rhyme. Alas, in the Czech language ALL FIVE (the four representing the Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Plasma) states of being — as well as the FIFTH “AETHER” (QUINTESSENCE) have the same SOUND CLUSTERS. Little children in baby talk employ such sound clusters as exemplified in MAMA, PAPA, TATA, BABA, KAKA etc. Certainly such “rhyme” or sound clusters are common in adult communication also – as exemplified in MoTHER, FaTHER, BroTHER, SisT*ER and DaughT*ER. Besides Slavic tongues, other Indo-European languages also display sound clusters which are shared by the four or five elements of antiquity. We see it in words like Terra & AEther (both of Latin origin) which had found their place in the World Lexicon of today. Consider English words like Air, Earth, Arid, Weather, Hearth. Hard, Dirt, Froth, Eternity, and even Fart. All of these have redundant sound patterns.

The Unified Field Theory (which tries to find a common denominator between the Strong Force, the Weak Force, Electromagnetism and Gravity) is in some ways reminiscent of the tetrasoma of the ancient world. Again, it is NOT by happen-chance that the word “Force” appears BOTH as Strong-Force AND Weak-Force. Unlike in Greek, English, German or other languages, in the Czech language ALONE — ALL FOUR ELEMENTS and a SPARE do contain the similar sound cluster: / V / A-E-I-O / T-D / R / In English AETHER and WATER rhyme. The argument here is — that it is NOT by happen-chance, but the “THER” or “TER” ending in English is a vestige of quintessential world-view of the remote past which is (more) completely preserved in Slavic languages, and, especially Czech. Similarly, scrutiny will reveal that “Earth” and “AEther” (in English) contain similar phonemic clusters. But, Nota Bene, as stated above, in the Czech alone ALL FOUR ELEMENTS plus the SPARE contain the similar sound clusters. Observe: (Czech).

(Hard) EARTH = TVRDA, (The Common Slavic word for “Earth” is ZEM, Zemlia)( Tvrd refers to solid.) (the “V” element is absent in Slovenian forms “Trdo” or “Terdo” notice link to “Terra”.)

WATER = VODA*(r), (Admittedly, the English word “WATER” fits better than the Slavic “VODA” which lacks the final *r)

WIND = VITR, (Slovenian – “VETER”)

FIRE = VATRA, (Vatra or its variants are absent in Slovenian) (Common Slavic “FIRE” = Og/hEN’)

(Note about VATRA: VATRA is the Croatian word for FIRE. In Czech and Slovak VATRA is more specifically a campfire or a bonfire. There is also a Russian brand of cigarettes named VATRA.) and AETHER = ETER.

P. Jandacek had published The Four Elements on Veneti.info, as well as this website. Please use as footnote and reference in bibliography [1] There, the conceptual categories of fire, air, water, solid are greatly expanded. According to the ancient world-view our physical existence is represented in four elements or states of being: Earth/Solid, Water/Liquid. Air or Wind/Gas and Fire/Plasma. Beyond our earth — in space — the stars and planets were suspended in AEther. Plato and Aristotle referred to AEther as “Idea”.[2]

The Five Platonic Solids were viewed as Atoms which made up the Five Elements. The 5 Platonic Solids were a TETRAHEDRON with 4 vertices, 6 edges and 4 faces; a CUBE with 8 vertices, 12 edges and 6 faces; an OCTAHEDRON with 6 vertices, 12 edges and 8 faces; an ICOSAHEDRON with 12 vertices, 30 edges and 20 faces. The DODECAHEDRON with 20 vertices, 30 edges and 12 faces was considered to be the ATOM of AEther or Quintessence. [3]

In a post-Einsteinian world the FIVE Elements of the ancient world no longer provide a paradigm which guides the scientific community. (The Periodic Chart, Relativity and Quantum Mechanics had replaced the Platonic Model.) But, it is quite impossible to grasp the mindset of the Proto-Slavs, Veneti, Ancient Greeks or other peoples of antiquity without a profound understanding of “Their World”. The fact that the 5 ELEMENTS of the Ancient World “rhyme” or at least possess the same sound clusters: / V / A-E-I-O / T-D / R / in Slavic languages (especially Czech) argues well that the FOUR ELEMENTS and the SPARE is an invention of the Slavic mind (at this time best preserved in Czech). Significantly, besides the Slavic-Greek Model of Earth- Water- Air- Fire- AEther — Hinduism (Tattva) and Buddhism (Mahabhuta) have a similar understanding: Vayu/Pavan (Air/Wind) Ap/Jala (Water) Prithvi/Bhumi (Earth) Agni/Tejas (Fire) and Akasha (AEther). [4]

The Japanese (Godai) also have a similar 5 element system, as do the Tibetan (Bon) and Chinese (WuXing) [4]

Apologia

One could still argue against my hypothesis that random sound arrangement could produce unintentional rhyme (or better said “Sound Cluster”): / V / A-E-I-O / T-D / R / in 100% of the Czech words for the ancient Five Elements. Certainly, there is (in my opinion small but) an irreducible chance that such sounds could have emerged spontaneously. So, besides using the GEN suffix and the STOFF and the IK and the EC endings mentioned above I did a statistical analysis of the modern Periodic Chart and have found that 77 of the elements end in “UM” as in Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Sodium and ending in the rare earths… thus about 75% of the elements end in “UM”. About 8% end in “ON” as in Boron, Carbon, Neon, Silicon, Argon, Krypton and Radon. About 5% end in “INE” and include Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, and Asiatine. About 3% end in “GEN” and we recall the Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen mentioned above. Thus we see that the naming of elements with common sound clusters is a well established policy in ancient and modern times. Yet another argument which I anticipate against my proposition is that the / V / A-E-I-O / T-D / R / is scrambled in the individual Slavic (Czech) names for the Archaic Elements. This phenomenon is a common consequence of independent linguistic evolution over many thousands of years. Consider that the fish which is called “CARP” in English is called “KRAP” in Slovenian and “KAPR” in Czech. Thus, it is not surprising that the understanding of a UNIform UNIverse was made comprehensible by five variations of spelling and pronunciation as applied to the Tetrasoma + a Spare. Notice that the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere, Magnetosphere and Noosphere share the sound cluster “SPHERE” but also each contains specificity which makes it unique. In scripture Abram became Abraham, and represents such verbal transmutation.

I have discovered that I would be in error to attribute the / V / A-E-I-O / T-D / R / sound cluster to all Slavic languages when it comes to naming the five elements. The system works very well in Czech, but its application is far less comprehensive in Slovenian and other Slavic languages where VATRA is absent.

Patently, “AIther” is known to have come from Greek and entered the World Lexicon via Latin “AEther”. If both Greek and Latin are derivatives of Proto-Indo-European (which in this author’s opinion is [nearly] synonymous with Proto-Slavic) then the task at hand is to propose the Slavoform etymology. Many Slavic words which begin with an open vowel are pronounced (and written) with a “V” phoneme and grapheme. For instance the Slavic word for “eight” may be Os*m or Vos*m. An “ass” may be Osel or Vosel. Other examples are Slovenian “Apno”, Czech “Vapno” (Lime-Limestone) and Slovenian “Las”, Czech “Vlas” (Hair). And, of course, Enetoi and Veneti are the same Slavic people.

(Parenthetically it can also be said that almost all words in a Czech dictionary which start with the letters “EL” are loan-words from “Western Languages”, Yet these words appear to have Slavic etymology if one adds the letter “V” before the initial “EL”. Thus, Elita (Elite) becomes “Velita”or ELementarni (Elemental) becomes “VELEmentarni” – implying greatness or prominence…. as in VELEhrad or VELikost.) Thus Elite can become Velite(l) {Leader in Czech}. Elephant becomes “VELEphannt” {something VERY Big}. Significantly, this little “game” works in the majority of “EL” loan-words in Czech, and ostensibly in the other Slavic languages (VELIK).

Thus it is a natural consequence that the four phenomena of (V)atra, (V)itr, (V)oda and t(V)rda would spawn the hypothetical (V)AEter = AEther = Ether = Eter. Note that in modern Slovenian the word for “hard” is “Trdo” and an older Slovenian form is “Terdo”. Both are without the “V” feature. The “V” feature in Slavic languages is optional. It is therefore prudent to look for the “most original” Slavoform (pre-Greco-Roman) word for “AEther” with the “V” feature as in VEDER which in Slovenian translates as “serene,clear, cheerful, merry” [5] and/or VEDA which translates as “SCIENCE” [6] or “Knowing”. Now, with these definitions of VEDER and VEDA let us compare the lexical domain provided in the Slovenski etimolos’ski slovar – here quoted by Professor Anton Perdih: ETER- from German ATHER from Latin AETHER from Greek AITHER meaning ‘jasina; nebo; svetloba;zrak;; zgornja plast ozrac’ja, kjer so bogovi’. Then for me he translated this into what he (in a self deprecating manner) calls his ljubljanski translation ‘ clearness brightness serenity; sky firmament; light sunshine; air atmosphere; the upper layer of atmosphere where the gods live. [7] The definitions for VEDER and VEDA from ANGLES’KO-SLOVENSKI MODERNI SLOVAR ISBN 86-361-0820-9 page 860 and that for ETER provided by Anton Perdih from the Slovenian Etymological Dictionary are remarkably similar. I therefore propose that the Original Slavoform Indo-European Etymology for the FOUR ELEMENTS plus a SPARE (before the Greeks and the Romans got a hold of it) was:

ELEMENTS plus a SPARE (before the Greeks and the Romans got a hold of it) was:

TVRDA (Slovenian Terdo/Trdo) (ZEM or Zemlia is the Common Slavic for “Earth”)

VODA*r (WATER in English is NOW a better fit than Slavic VODA)

VE’TR (Czech VITR – Slovenian VETER)

VATRA (VATRA in Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Russian….. absent in Slovenian)

VEDER (VEDER in Slovenian) (VEDA in all Slavic languages and in Sanskrit and its derivatives)

VEDA = (“IDEA” of Plato and Aristotle) [2]

While Slovenian is deficient in the word VATRA, it is efficient in providing the word VEDER. Thus, in the final analysis Slovenian proved to be more useful than the inspiration for this research spawned by Czech.

1. The Four Elements veneti,info (Internet website) Redacted by Robert Petric, Ljublana
2. Aether (classical element) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
3. Golden Ratio and the Platonic Solids by Nikhat Parveen, UGA
   http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT6680/Parveen/platonic_solids.htm
4. Loc Cit: Aether (classical element) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
5. Dasa Komac, ANGLESKO-SLOVENSKI / SLOVENE-ENGLISH MODERNI SLOVAR / MODERN DICTIONARY Druga izdaja Cankarjeva Zalozba Ljubljana 1994
6. Ibid. Dasa Komac, Moderni Slovar 1994
7. Marko Snoj,Slovenski etimolos’ki slovar, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 1997 ISBN#14772-3