This is an Eurasiatic Wanderwort found in
Eskimo-Aleut *paniɣ 'daughter', Altaic
*phjun[e] ‘a small wild animal’ (Tungusic *pün´-
'jerboa, flying squirrel, mole; weasel; hedgehog', Mongolian *hünegen
'fox', Turkic *enük
(~ *ünek) 'young of a wild animal, puppy'), which I'd link (through
labialization of the initial labiovelar) to Caucasian *ɦnǝ:qq’wǝ:
(~ *ɦqq’wǝ:nǝ:) 'mouse, rat', Yeniseian *ku:n´
(~ g-) 'wolverine', Balto-Slavic *keun-
'marten'. The metathesized variant is found in Uralic *ńukk- 'fox', Dravidian *nakk- 'fox, jackal'.
Possibly also related are Latin cunīculus
(a Paleo-Hispanic loanword) and dialectal Basque untxi (HN, R), entxe (HN)
'rabbit', all them diminutive forms.
___________________________
1 Hence the
Basque calque ogigaztae (B) 'weasel', from ogi 'bread' and gaztae 'cheese'. For other names of 'weasel' in Basque, see here.
2 An
extinct Romance language spoken in the High Middle Ages and which gave
loanwords to Aragonese and some Pyrenaic Gascon varieties, especially Bearnese.


No comments:
Post a Comment