Re: [tied] rock

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 12676
Date: 2002-03-14

I feel tempted to separate *k^alk- 'gravel, pebble' (Lat. calx, calculus, Skt. s'arkara-) from *kar- (with extensions: *kar-s-, *kar-p-, *kar-k- ~ krak-, kar-k(a)r-, ...) meaning 'hard' (Gmc. *xardu- < *kar-tú-, Skt. karkara-); 'stone, rock' (e.g. *kars- > *karr- in Celtic); 'crab, crawfish ...' (*kar-kr-o- ~ *kan-kr-o-, *kar-k-ino-). It is _hard_ to say whether this *kar- was a real "root" or just a phonaesthetic sequence (cf. various 'scratch, notch, carve' roots like *skerbH-/*gerbH-, *ker- 'cut, etc.).
 
Albanian karpë 'rock' (< *karpa:) shows the characteristic -p- extension which recurs in the geographical names of the Carpathian region. The mountains themselves were called <karpate:s oros> by Ptolemy, and the North Carpathian Getae were the Carpi (Karpoi, Karpianoi, Karpo-Dakoi) 'those who live in the rocky mountains'.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: guto rhys
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 9:20 AM
Subject: [tied] rock

Reading the debate about Daci I noticed that Albanian for ´rock´ is ´carpa´ (I think). I would assume that this is cognate with Latin ´calc-´ (again I think it´s the correct form) , Welsh ´craig´ (rock) and ´carreg´ (stone). Interestingly Welsh has also ´sialc´ (´chalk´ from English) and ´calch´ (´lime´ from Latin) but what is the proposed PIE reconstruction and what are its reflexes in other languages. I would be interested in toponymic forms as well.