Ossetian

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Etymology

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A pan-Caucasian word. Compare Adyghe домбей (dombej, wisent), Kabardian домбай (dombaj, huge); Abkhaz а-домпей (a-dompʼej, wisent), а-думпей (a-dumpʼej), Abaza домбай (dombaj, wisent; big fellow); Karachay-Balkar доммай (dommay, wisent); Georgian დომბა (domba, wisent), Svan დომბა̈ჲ (dombäy, wisent; big bull, ox); Armenian դմբո (dmbo, fool, simpleton); Lak дунбей (dunbey, big, flabby; stupid; weak-willed); Nogai домбай (dombay, fat), and dialectal Turkish dombay (female bison).

The origin is uncertain; however two theories exist:

Noun

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домбай (dombaj)

  1. bison
  2. (transferred sense) lion[3]

Adjective

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домбай (dombaj)

  1. (figuratively) strong, powerful

References

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  1. ^ Шагиров, А. К. (1977) К. В. Ломтатидзе, editor, Этимологический словарь адыгских (черкесских) языков [Etymological Dictionary of Adyghean (Circassian) Languages]‎[1] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Nauka, page 151
  2. ^ Gamkrelidze, Th. V., Ivanov, V. V. (1995) Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture. Part I: The Text (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs; 80), Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pages 439–440
  3. ^ Abajev, V. I. (1958) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 365