The EIEC is actually inconsistent. The root *perk^- 'dig' (=
Pokorny's *perk^- [3] 'dig out, furrow') does not appear under "dig"
or anywhere else in the encyclopaedia apart from the "pig" entry,
whereas the colour term *perk^- has an entry for itself and is also
discussed under "color":
"A root *perk^- is applied to a variety of variegated beings, e.g.
Lat porcus 'perch [??? P.G.] or piglet'...".
The reconstruction of *perk^- 'dig out' is based on Germanic
*furxo: 'furrow', Lat. porca 'balk, ridge between two furrows', and
Celt. *rica 'furrow', all of them < *pr.'k(^)ah2. However, the
hypothetically underlying verb does not seem to be plausibly
attested, and perhaps the 'furrow' words are themselves derived from
*perk^- 'streak, mark with different colours'. Of course the
longitudinal striping of wild (or primitive domestic) piglets could
also be described as furrow-like. Anyway, I'd tentatively cast my
vote for *pork^os <-- "variegated" *perk^-, since this root is
widespread and can be shown to underlie several "zoological" terms.
Piotr
--- In cybalist@..., CeiSerith@... wrote:
> In a message dated 10/28/2002 10:04:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> jodan99@... writes:
>
>
> > 2) I remember to have read in some book that *pork^os < *perk^-
"to dig"
> >
>
> That's roughly what the Encylopedia of Indo-European Culture
says: "From
> *perk^- 'dig/root up the earth,' i.e., *por'k^os would be an agent
noun,
> i.e., 'one who roots.'"
>
> David Fickett-Wilbar