Black Liver, White Lungs: On the History and Location of the Model

Abstract

It is demonstrated that the black X 'liver' – the white X 'lungs' model originated in the Persian language and was then brought to the Turkish and Azerbaijani languages, from which it spread over a large territory affecting many idioms of the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Carpathians. At the same time there are areas in Europe where such a model developed independently. To this group belong some of the Romance and Sorbian speech varieties and, most likely, Slovak and Slovenian dialects.