Re: [tied] OE *docga 'Fido'?

----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] OE *docga 'Fido'?



> But is that related to the suffix in 'pig' and 'dog'? And what is the relation to the Celtic *succos?

No, OE -a in <frocga> etc. is the weak masculine ending (PGmc. *-o:n-, like Latin -o: in homo: = OE guma; the plural is <frocgan>). It corresponds to Goth. -a, OHG -o, and ON -i. Swedish -a in <sugga> is historically the strong feminine ending (= PIE *-ah2), I think, corresponding to OE -u in <sugu>. Celtic *succos seems to be much the same thing as Germanic *suko:, except for the gender and the geminate (either expressive or derived from an original cluster).

> BTW strange that *su- "one's own; in-laws(?)" are related to swine in IE, as if the pig was part of the family. Even stranger that something similar occurs in Austronesian ("pet pig").

"Babe: Pig in the City"? All right, I'm not convinced at all that *su:s/*su- 'pig' and *swe- are related. There's _perhaps_ a connection between the 'pig' terms and *suHnus 'son' via *seuH- 'bear offspring', but even that is only a conjecture.

Piotr