Balto-Slavic Bear

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 933
Date: 2000-01-15

I think I have identified a probable Lithuanian reflex of the PIE bear word (*xrtkos). I have an odd sense of deja vu when I look at it -- a vague recollection of having seen an article reporting something similar, possibly in one of the back issues of the Indogermanishe Forschungen, three or four years ago. Unfortunately, I cannot check it now.
 
Both the Balts and the Slavs (as well as the Germani) replaced the inherited bear word with descriptive terms. Some kind of taboo was probably the reason for that. The Slavic bear word derives from *medhu-ed- 'hunny-eater' > *medwe:dI (cf. Russian medved'). Lithuanian has lokys which goes back to Proto-Baltic *tla:kijas 'shaggy'. However, a bear's lair is called irštva. I'm not sure yet how to cut this word morphologically, but the most likely division seems to me at the moment to be iršt-va, and the iršt- part is the expected hypothetical development of *xrtk- in Baltic (assuming metathesis *xrtk- > *xrkt-as in Greek). I gather the word may also mean a layer or bed of something (I haven't explored these things fully yet). There is, IMO, a possible etymological connection with Polish warstwa 'layer' < *wUrstwa < (conjecturally) *Urst-wa: < Proto-Balto-Slavic *rCt-wa: (I write *C for the common Balto-Slavic reflex of satem *k', probably an affricate).
 
If the above etymologies stand up to scrutiny, the Proto-Balto-Slavic bear may be reconstructed as *rCtas, yielding Slavic *UrstU and Baltic *irštas. PIE bears may still be lurking in some unexpected places.
 
The Polish word for a bear's lair is barłóg (also with secondary senses like 'layer' or 'makeshift/untidy bed'). The etymological dictionaries I have consulted take it to be of Slavic origin (< *bUrlogU, however this should be analysed), but I find it hard to believe it has no Germanic connections. Does anyone out there know anything about such bear-related terms in Slavic and other North European languages?
 
Piotr