28 March 2013

Latin satellēs 'bodyguard'




















Latin satellēs 'bodyguard', whose accusative satellite- was borrowed into French satellite, is a loanword from Etruscan zatlaθ 'axe-bearer', from zaθ, zat 'axe'1. I think likely a connection with IE *h4adhes- 'axe, adze' (Hittite ates, atessa-, English adze, Latin assis, asser).

This formation is parallel to the theonym Raθlθ 'Stick-carrier', from raθ 'stick'2, possibly related to IE *wraHd- 'root, branch' > Latin rādix 'root', a Wanderwort also found in Afrasian *rVhVt’- 'branch, rafter' (Semitic, Berber) and Georgian rt’o 'branch, bough'. Latin rāmus 'branch, bunch' < *wrād-mo- is cognate to Greek rhádamnos 'branch, twig', a Pre-Greek substrate loanword also found as rhódamnos, oródamnos.
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1 Etruscan z stands for /ts/.
2 Latin ratis 'rafter' must be an Etruscan loanword.

19 March 2013

Rhaeto-Romance karmún 'weasel'






Following Meyer-Lübke (REW 1700), the French linguist Xavier Delamarre1 proposes Gaulish *karmon- as the source of Rhaeto-Romance (Surselvan) karmún 'weasel', although personally I think the source language would be Italoid.

This is a regional IE word *k´ormon- 'weasel, ermine' found in OHG harmo, Lithuanian šarmuõ 'wildcat, ermine', šermuõ 'weasel, ermine' as well as Basque armindderi (Aezk), armonddegi (HN), ergoniri (HN), ergoneri (HN), ergenore (HN), erbindori (*L), erminori (HN), erbiñore (G), erbiñude (G), erbiñure (G, L) 'weasel' (a compound whose second member is unknown2), with loss of the initial stop due to Martinet’s Law.

Probably related is Mongolian *keremü 'squirrel', borrowed into Tungus keremun (MT 123)3. There’re also Turkic *Küŕen, Mongolian *kürene 'ferret, weasel' (EDAL 1105) and Tungusic *gurma-/ *gurna- 'hare; squirrel; ermine' (EDAL 572), wrongly linked to different words in other Altaic languages4.
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X. Delamarre (2008): Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, p. 105.
2 The forms erbi-unide (Bazt), erbionide (HN) are the product of a folk etymology from erbi 'hare' and unide 'wetnurse'.
3 G. Doerfler (1985): Mongolo-Tungusica.
4 In fact, the latter is absurdly paired to Turkic and Korean words meaning 'antelope; deer'.

18 March 2013

Greek párdos, párdalos 'leopard' (updated)






Greek párdos, párdalos 'leopard' was borrowed into Latin pardus, later used with leo 'lion' in the compound form leo pardus, and it was semantically reanalyzed in Romance as an adjective 'blackish; brown', firstly referring to the spots of leopards and later generalized to other things1.

The Greek word has cognates in Indo-Iranian (Sogdian prwδnk, Pashto pāng 'panther', Sanskrit pdāku- 'tiger, panther'). A similar word can be found in Hittite parš-ana- 'leopard', corresponding to the Hattic genitive ha-prašš-un 'of leopard' and Persian pārs ~ fārs 'panther', in turn borrowed into Western Mongolian phars, bars 'snow leopard; tiger' and Old Turkic bārs 'tiger' (although some Turkic languages preserve the meaning 'panther'). This is also the probable source of Russian bars 'leopard'2.

Probably also related is Mongolian beltereg 'young of wolf' < *berteleg (EDAL 175). The form börtü (berte) činua is translated as 'multicolored wolf (name of the legendary ancestor of Chinggis Khan)' and börtü is glossed as 'mottled, speckled, grey', in a similar way to Latin pardus.

Gamkrelidze-Ivanov consider this to be a substrate loanword from some language of Asia Minor, whose alternation d ~ s would reflect a dental fricative3. In my opinion, the source would be related to East Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) *bħertsˀi(~ -e) 'wolf, jackal'4, linked by Starostin to Sinitic *prāts 'a k. of mythical predator'.
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1 J. Coromines (1973, 2008): Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, p. 414.
2 T.V. Gamkrelidze & V.V. Ivanov (1995): Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans, p. 421.
3 T.V. Gamkrelidze & V.V. Ivanov, op.cit., p. 425-426.
4 Also related is the isolated Lezghian (Tabarasan) form barči 'tracking dog, bloodhound'.