From: Sergejus Tarasovas
Message: 14263
Date: 2002-08-07
>>If the above makes any sense at all, and if the derivation of Slavic *pero 'feather' from *pterom (Gk. pteron) is correct, why not analyse the Slavic 'bat' word, *netopyrI (or was it *-pyrjI ?), as descendent from *nekWto-pto:r, where *-pto:r would represent the compositional form of *peto:r 'feather (coll.), wing', of which PGmc. *feþro: is a derivative. Though *neto-pyr- is routinely analysed as 'n octurnal X', where the most natural interpretation of 'X' would be something like 'flier', I've never seen a convincing etymology of *-pyr- as 'flier, flutterer' or as anything else for that matter.
>
>>Any comments?
>Sounds good to me.
>I've been wondering: is (v)o~pyrI (R. upyr') "vampire" in any way
connected?
Same here, and I remember Trubachev etymologizing it as *o~ 'out' (cf. *vUn- 'out') + *pyr- 'fly', i. e., '"outflying" from its grave (at night)'.Sergei