Re: proof that most etymologies are only fairy-tales

Franz Gnaedinger wrote:

[...]

PS. Also Douglas G. Kilday keeps quiet. And if there were
a convincing etymology of bear Bär beer, Mallory and Adams
would have taken it up in their PIE Bible (2006).

Time to come temporarily (yawn) out of hibernation already?

PIE for 'bear' was evidently *r.kto- with an alternant *r.ktyo- (on
this
alternation cf. 'new', PIE *newo- and *newyo-). Thus we have
Sanskrit <r.ks.ah.>, Greek <árktos>, and Celtic *arto-. Latin
<ursus> is a Sabinism; true Latin would have /or/ from syllabic
*/r./.

Taboo-substitution occurred in some of the IE branches. Common
Germanic *bero: is traditionally understood as 'the brown one' and
I have never found a problem with that, particularly since this new
Gmc. word for 'bear' has itself twice been replaced by words for
'brown', namely Old Norse <björn> and English <bruin> (borrowed
from Dutch, used in certain stories). I see no reason to connect
Eng. <bear> with Lat. <ferus> 'wild'. The evidence as I know it
favors the traditional explanation of 'brown one'.

(Sorry about the scrolling; I can't fix it.)

DGK
.

Relevant Pages

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