--- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
> So, in summary, such a PHattic *Launon "bull" could have been
borrowed into Tyrrhenian as *leunu and mistakingly given the meaning
of "lion" in confusion. From there, the Tyr.word is adopted into
Hellenic.
This is almost plausible 8-)
Big cats were not known in Northern Europe or the Western Steppe. The
lion got as far as the south Balkans (to Thrace), and other big cats
were probably in the Caucusus. The wildcat (F sylvestris) does not
have the mythic oomph of the lion.
To my understanding, the bull's mythic associations seem to be wholly
borrowed into IE from the MidEast.
It is the *HORSE* that has all the heavy mythic baggage in IE.