One fundamental objection is that the
assumption of a Getic prototype explains "obscurum per obscurius", and thus
effectively fails to explain anything. Which particular known Getic word could
have been the source? The extra difficulty is that we have Myc. qa-si-re-u-
(*gWasileus) about a thousand years before the Getae are first mentioned. How
would Russu, or anyone else, have known what Proto-Getic was like so early if
Getic itself is known only from a handful of words?
As for the etymology of *gWasileus, it's
customary to regard it as a "Pelasgian" loan merely because no IE etymology
appears convincing enough. But note Peter's comment, earlier today, about
<tHálatta/tHálassa>, which _might_ be IE as regards its structure if only
some plausible cognates could be suggested. The suffix <-eús> (indicating
agency or instrumentality, among other things) is quite common in Mycenaean:
<ka-ke-u> (*kHalkeus) 'coppersmith', <ke-ra-me-u> (*kerameus)
'potter', <i-je-re-u> (*hiereus) 'priest', etc. *gWasileus would fit into
this patter if we only knew how to interpret **gWasilo- (< **gWatilo-?) in
Greek or non-Greek terms.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 12:12 AM
Subject: [tied] greek basyleus
II Russu in his book "ethnogenesis of the romanians"
sustain
that the greeks "imported" some words from getae. Such
words
should be:
ambon, basileus, bascanos, brabeus.
Are there
contrary evidences at least for "basileus"?
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