Dear S. Kalyanaraman and
Cybalisters:
----- Original Message -----From: Glen GordonSent: Wednesday, August 01, 2001 6:59 PMSubject: [tied] Loha, copper, red: any IE cognates?Sigh...
S.Kalyanaraman states:
>It appears that a compound term is used: URUDU -LLUHA which means
>that URUDU refers to unrefined copper (pyrite?) ore and LLUHA (which
>is refined copper or just heated, reddened copper?[PCR]In my opinion, urudu is itself a compound of u ('finger?') + rudu (better **rutu, cognate with IE *reudh-). Perhaps the ore involved was hematite, of which there are stalactitic varieties; or cuprite, which comes in long crystals.Luh-a does, of course, mean 'washed' (cognate IE *luk-) but there is also the IE word *leuk-, 'shine, illuminate', which is used of the gleam of polished metal (Old Indian rukmá, 'gold, golden adornment').It could very well be that 'refine' and 'wash' are here being equated, or there may be another root involved that had the same phonetic form in Sumerian, related to IE *leuk-.Urudu-luh-a might be an attemp to to differentiate copper ores, perhaps that with -luh-a, something like chalcopyrite is meant.An interesting problem that presents many possibilities but few even relative certainties.
PatPATRICK C. RYAN | PROTO-LANGUAGE@...
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