Re: Bear, a Magdalenian test case

killrated, ergo repeated

I must correct myself. Mallory and Adams 2006
_do_ explain bear as the brown one. Page 333:
"A root *bher- meant 'brown' and was quite
productive in that it underlies the Proto-Indo-
European word for 'beaver', and the Germanic
word for 'bear'; it also renders 'toad' in Greek
and is a horse colour in Mitanni." I will revise
my etymology of bear accordingly, still believing
that BIR was the origin, while bear as the furry
one and brown as the (main) color of fur are
derivatives.

Etymology of bear (second version, 1/3)

English bear German Bär Dutch beer is explained
via two alternative PIE etymologies, namely as the
brown one, from *bher- 'brown', and as the wild one,
from *gwher. Neither etymology convinces me.
How many brown and wild animals are there?
Relying on my Magdalenian dictionary I propose
BIR meaning fur (ancient Greek byrsa), especially
the fur whereupon a newborn was laid, as origin of
a plethora of words. When fur keeps a newborn
warm, a bag made of a hide could have been used
to carry a baby around: bear a child. Via analogy
this verb is also used for a pregnant woman
bearing a child in her womb. Between the two ways
of bearing a child, inside and outside the body,
occurs the event called birth, giving birth, and the
child is born, a newborn. Most furs are brown,
hence BIR is also the origin of PIE *bher- 'brown'.
The bear provides the best fur, longhaired, soft
and warm, hence bear Bär beer (while the actual
name of the cave bear was ARC, referring to the
animal's extraordinary strength, surviving in Greek
arktos and Latin ursus). Judging by its name also
the boar, Latin aper German Eber, provided a
fairly good fur. Also the hare, whose name might
be a further derivative of BIR, as English hair
German Haar. English beard German Bart are
obvious derivatives of BIR, while the doubling
BIR BIR may account for the squirrel *werwer
and the beaver.

Let us have a look at a bunch of PIE homonyms
(after Mallory and Adams 2006, page 467):
*bher- 'brown' -- explained above // *bher- 'weave,
twine' -- the wool of a sheep that has a longhaired
fur like a bear // *bher- 'seethe, bubble; roast' --
the meat of the skinned animal // *bher- 'strike
(through), split, cut' -- one has to kill the animal
in order to get its precious fur and its meat,
the bear must die so the Ice Age people can
live; a drawing in the cave Trois Frères shows
a bear with dotted fur and blood spurting out
of its mouth, the dots are wounds caused by
spears, but also a visualisation of SAI for life,
existence, namely the life of the Ice Age people
depending on fur and meat // *bher- 'carry' --
explained above // *bher- '+- cure with spells
and/or with herbs' -- we might imagine a healing
ceremony involving spells, herbs, and a warm
bear fur // *bhére/o- 'bear (a child)' -- explained
above // *bherg- 'bark, growl' -- sounds made
by a bear // *bherg- 'keep, protect' -- a bag
made of a hide keeping and protecting a baby,
German bergen. Female bears are devoted
mothers, and a bear fur may thus have had
a magical meaning for a human mother. On
the other hand, bear furs may also have been
used in burial ceremonies - enveloping the
body in a bear hide could have secured a man
or a woman a second life in the beyond, hence
to bury, and burrow (burrows in Southern England).
In fall, a bear goes in quasi hibernation, and
returns in spring, which may have been regarded
as a kind of regeneration. In autumn, a bear
eats up to 150,000 berries, and so English
berry German Beere may also come from BIR.
Dutch brombeer 'growling bear' is practically
the same as German Brombeere 'black berry',
so we may assume three possibilities: 1) bears
like black berries very much, or 2) black berry
thornbushes were grown around settlements
in order to protect them from bears and other
wild animals, or 3) alleys through black berry
thornbushes were used as bear traps. Pear,
Latin pire from an unknown source, may refer
to the shape of a bear's head, round with a long
snout.

In any case, bear means the furry one, provider
of the best fur, longhaired, soft and warm. Two
German names or nicknames refer to this meaning,
Zottelbär 'shaggy bear', and petz female petze,
in fables Meister Petz. Grimm, in his Wörterbuch,
quotes Hagedorn: "da sträubet sich der petz"
which means: here the petz bristles up and stands
on end. Petz can only mean pelt, German Pelz,
and this, I believe, comes from an important word
field. PAD --- activity of feet. Comparative form
PAS --- everywhere in a plain, here, south and north
of me, east and west of me. Lateral association
PIS --- water in motion. Petz petze Pelz pelt (and
Latin pellis 'fur', French poil 'hair' and poilu 'hairy
one') would then come from PIS for water in
motion. The relation to water is kept in the verb
to pelt for heavy raining. Leonardo da Vinci
observed that hair resembles flowing water.
The same observation could well have been
made in the Ice Age ... The bear is the furry one,
while bear as the provider of the best fur and
brown as the main color of fur are derivatives.
Magdalenian reaches deeper than PIE. While
PIE relies on sound patterns, Magdalenian
relies on semantic patterns. Both approaches
can well complement each other. Let me finish
by saying that the verbal morphospace (of the
Eurasian languages) keeps more intact and
retrievable information on the human past
(especially of the last Ice Age) than previously
held possible.

(The end, and, hopefully, a new begin for
pelaeo-linguistics)

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Greek Psi
    ... BIR means fur, especially the fur on which a newborn was laid ... he will name it a bear ... ... for the PIE explanation of bear as the brown one, which, in my ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Greek Psi
    ... BIR means fur, especially the fur on which a newborn was laid ... he will name it a bear ... ... for the PIE explanation of bear as the brown one, which, in my ... I can easily unite the six *bher- homonyms under BIR, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Greek Psi
    ... BIR means fur, especially the fur on which a newborn was laid ... he will name it a bear ... ... for the PIE explanation of bear as the brown one, which, in my ... I can easily unite the six *bher- homonyms under BIR, ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Bear, a Magdalenian test case
    ... brown one, from *bher- 'brown', and as the wild one, ... BIR meaning fur, ... hence BIR is also the origin of PIE *bher- 'brown'. ... The bear provides the best fur, longhaired, soft ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Greek Psi
    ... BIR means fur, especially the fur on which a newborn was laid ... he will name it a bear ... ... for the PIE explanation of bear as the brown one, which, in my ... That is, in fact, why PIE theory keeps changing. ...
    (sci.lang)