From: Eris
Message: 7778
Date: 2001-07-03
> Is #2 [*potis 'lord, master'] also IE [or is it Greek]?
IE, no doubt about that. It has such cognates as Old Indian pati- and Lithuanian patis. The feminine counterpart was *potnih2- 'lady'.
Okay... I do know that there was an [Old?] Greek word despotes ("lord of the house", right?). I assume potes is singular nominative and des is genetive of dem (but I thought it was dom in Greek, not IE dem... ah well). Anyhow, would potes itself therefore have been the Greek form of potis? Would that "kinda-sorta" explain where the -ei- comes from in PosEIdon? Still unclear on that.
Also, concerning the Latin side of things, looking at the Etruscan name for the same, Nethanus, the a:n is there! :) But I don't understand why it would be u:n in Latin, unless earlier in Latin it was actually Neptanus and the Etruscans borrowed it before it changed (why?) to Neptunus. Does that sound plausible?
(Sorry for the repeated question, but I am very curious about that change.)
Thanks,
Eris