Re: [tied] Re: Of 'orses and asses

The "h" in the horse's name (< *xors- or metathesised *xros-) rules out any real connection with *h1ors. The etymological base is "Italo-Germanic" *krs- (as in Latin curro, curso, cursus), so Germanic "horse" = "courser", cf. hurry, OHG horsch 'fast'. Of course various folk-etymological connections between 'osses and 'asses could develop in recent times.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Odegard

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 9:15 PM

Subject: [tied] Re: *XXX

As for *h1ors-o-s, it's attested even in Hittite. > > Piotr I'm going into folk etymology, so just slap me down where I'm wrong. H1ors ... any potential relation to 'horse'? If only something internal to English or Germanic? The backside of a horse is proverbial, as with "a horse's ass". I'm thinking perhaps something happened along the lines of 'caballus' which apparently (in Celtic) originally meant 'nag', 'old, tired workhorse'. EIEC reports an Old Irish sense, 'back of chariot' (presumably, the rear of the vehicle itself). Since the charioteer always looked at the horse's backside, the idea that Germanic might have called the horse a 'backside' not semantically improbable. 'Ass' in the sense of donkey is suggested to be a Celtic borrowing into English, but deriving ultimately from Latin. Latin 'asinus' is probably borrowed Mark.