Re: [tied] Loha, copper, red: any IE cognates?

Dear S. Kalyanaraman and Cybalisters:

----- Original Message -----

From: Glen Gordon

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 4:04 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] Loha, copper, red: any IE cognates?

S. Kalyanaraman: >It could also be copper-arsenic naturally occurring alloy or a copper >pyrite. So, Me-luhh-a may refer to an area from where such copper >(refined, washed, or copper pyrite) was obtained? Omg... Are you listening at all?? Sumerian /luh/ means **to wash** and /luhh-a/ is /luh/ + /-a/. There is no such word as */luhha/ and it does *not* mean "refined copper". At best the entire phrase /urudu luhha/ might be seen as meaning "refined copper". Please read up on Sumerian before inventing cockamamey theories that are blatantly false.

[PCR]

luh-a is presumably a product of luh + -a. However, it is quite common in Sumerian for -a to be combined with the final consonant of the preceding word, and written as C(1)VC(2)-C(2)a.

And please disregard Patrick's unresearched comment about /u/ + /rudu/, which doesn't even make a shred of sense anyway. Most likely, /urudu/ isn't even Sumerian, ultimately borrowed from a foreign language in the Neolithic (and just in case your mind is starting to daydream again, this language ain't Munda). So, please tell me you understand now. Rule number one in linguistics: You *cannot* divide words ignorantly, any way you please. Afaik, Meluhha is a single indivisible name for a country, which is presumed to be the Indus civilisation. [PCR] We do not know whether Meluhha is a loanword from another language or a Sumerian compound. It is quite possible that it might be a compound of, e.g. me5, 'water' + luh, 'shine', so that something like 'shiny water' is intended.

As Piotr said, there is dialectal variation in Sanskrit regarding /l-/ and /r-/ and /loha/ is derived from IndoEuropean *H1reudh- with an *-r-, not an *l. Pat PATRICK C. RYAN | PROTO-LANGUAGE@... (501) 227-9947 * 9115 W. 34th St. Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES: PROTO-LANGUAGE: http://www.geocities.com/proto-language/ and PROTO-RELIGION: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit ec at ec hecc, vindgá meiði a netr allar nío, geiri vndaþr . . . a þeim meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn." (Hávamál 138)