Re: Boiotia < *bhoi- ?

> > More ridiculousness.
>
> It's nice to be important, but it's also important to be nice.

As they say, If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

> Bo Find: Ireland. `White Cow'.

I understand a good bit of Old Irish, so I already know this.

> She came from the western sea to Ireland and gave birth to cattle
> for the people, then she disappeared.

Source?

> I read where this was the eponymous goddess of the Boii, but I
> don't have the source.

Oh, of course not.

> You know that there is a lot of
> misinformation out there. They must publish it on purpose
> in order to needle self-important brahmas busy into firing off
> blunt retorts.

Well, I would hardly classify myself as self-important - but I don't
suffer fools. THose that have been on this list for a while know
that the debates can range from extremely polite to downright nasty -
but it's all in fun.

> > Which names woud those be?
> >
>
> The myth of the Calydonian Boar Hunt is in part a prelude to the
> Trojan War and more directly a prelude to the story of a civil war

in

> Aetolia..............

<snip>

I know the tale of Culhwwch quite well, no need to summarize it for
me. All I asked was which names you felt were similar. All that you
can come up with is Culhwch's grandfather (not father) Celydon (from
Brittonic *Caledonos "A Caledonian")

> Conclusion: We might be tempted to conclude that early Christian
> Welsh borrowed from the story of the Greek myth to give us their
> version in an Arthurian tale.

You might be tempted - but that temptation would be wrong, as I am
sure you understand.

> However, the key link between these two
> region and times is the name of the Greek town of Calydon and
> Caledonia (Yeah, I know: superficial similarity),

If you know that the similarity is superficial, why do you bother
with this theory?

> the name of ancient Scotland (see Note 2). As will be shown

elsewhere, the most likely

> explanation for this shared myth came to Greece in late

prehistoric

> times with early Celtic colonists from central Europe.

LOL. Hardly the most likely explanation!

> Note 1: Actually, Culwhch's name is interpreted as meaning "pig-

sty"

> after his mother was scared by pigs and this induced his birth.

Yeah, and that is a folk-etymology. Eric Hamp has demonstrated that
Cul- actually comes from an Old Western Indo European root (perhaps
ultimately a pre-IE substrate root) meaning "pig" (and not "sty").

> Note 2: These names also may be linked to the ancient name for
> Scotland, Caledonia, the eponymous tribe of which may have been
> named for by a pan-IE goddess found in Scotch and Irish myth as
> Cailleach (and modern Kelly), Manx as Caillach, and in India as
> Kali. Gender- and Gaulish-specific, their name recalls the pan-
> Gallic god Caletos (equated by the Romans with Mercury) and
> several place names in the Gallic world. (Yeah, I know, "more
> ridiculousness")

Well, the word that I would use now is ignorance.
1. Caledonia is most likely based on the nominative singular n-stem
*Caledu (genitive *Caledonos), where the -u is from a PIE -On.

2. Cailleach is the result of an early Latin loan (borrowed sometime
between 1st-5 centuries AD). Old Irish Caillech means "veiled
one/nun", from Irish caille "veil", ultimately borrowed from Latin
pallium "cloak" (commonly worn by women). It has no relation to
Sanskrit Kali whatsoever.

3. Unless you have access to sources that I don't, there is no
mention of a god Caletos in any single known inscription. You are
thinking of the god Mercurius Uassocaletos "The Hard/Tough Vassal"

> Note 3: Meleager and Oeneus have name cognates with the Arthurian
> characters known variously as Meleagant, Meleagaunce, or Melwas;

and

> Owain, though their characters don't suggest a connection.

Uhh...neither are mentioned in Culhwch, in case you didn't realize
it. Meleagant was a name invented by the French author Chretien de
Troyes - he meant to write Melwas, but was perhaps influenced by
Meleagar as he was a bit of a classical scholar in his day.

As a side note, Owein (Old Welsh Eugain) comes from a Brittonic
*Auiganios "Born Auspicious/Favorable" and Melwas from a Brittonic
Maglouassos "Prince-vassal".

- Chris Gwinn