DICTIONARY OF REVIVED PRUSSIAN:

13.4. Retrieving roots from proper names
A number of roots retrieved from proper names are comprehended by means of
etymological analysis. Thus V. Maþiulis has reconstructed the Prussian word *dîws
‘quick’ by analyzing the Old Prussian name Diwanus [dîwans] 17 .
13.5. Making use of “empty” words
With recovering a root, which is used in East Baltic and in Slavic (cf. Lith. sapnas,
Latv. sapnis, Polish sen ‘dream’, Lith. vakaras, Latv. vakars, Polish wieczƒor ‘evening’,
Lith. ugnis, Latv. uguns, Polish ogieƒn ‘fire’), one reconstructs its older meaning and
sees whether a word with similar meaning exists. The existence of the similar meaning
(bîtan ‘evening’ III : *wakkars; pannu ‘fire’ E : *uguns) is a source of essential
expansion of the vocabulary on the basis of typological comparison with the
development of the meaning in neighboring languages.
Thus no Prussian word for the ‘West’ is attested, but it is namely the abstract
plural of the word “evening’ which is used for the meaning ‘West’ in Lithuania. Such
a parallel beside theoretic existence of the untied Prussian word *wakkars with a
“vacant” meaning permits the creation of NPr. pl. tantum wakar`i ‘West’, what is not
a repetition of the Lithuanian word. The Prussians had to use the same approach in
making the word for “West” from evening (bîtan may have appeared in a later epoch
as an euphemism due to the tabu of ‘evening’), as is indirectly confirmed by analogous
area building of the word ‘West’ in Polish: zachƒod, i.e. ‘place of the sunset, evening’.
No Prussian word for ‘conflagration’ is found in the attested material.
Nevertheless, one has an “empty” Prussian word *ugnis with its initial meaning
‘fire’. This word should have had a profane meaning in Old Prussian beside the
sacred meaning of pannu. The word *ugnis therefore suited for such profane
phenomenon as conflagration > NPr. uguns.
13.6. Competition of recovered words: synonyms
If several solutions are possible, a competition takes place. Twenty years ago Vladimir
Toporov was pleased with my mathematical (re-)creation of the Prussian word
panzdauniks ‘descendant’: panzdau ‘after’, Slavic ‘po’ + suffix -enîk(a)- (cf. OPr.
maldenîks < adj. *malda- ‘young’ + suffix -enîk(a)-) according to area building Polish
potom- ‘after’ + suffix -ek (cf. Russian potomok). Nevertheless, a more credible
word is found in the texts written by J. Brettke: palikkis. Since the word panzdauniks
is constructed logically and accurately, it may be also used. The language cannot be
without synonyms.
17 PEÞ, Vol. 1, p. 210–211.
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