Lithuanian eagle

> From: Miguel Carrasquer [mailto:mcv@...]

> >Where do[es] archaic Lithuanian _a~ras_ 'eagle' belong? Or just a
> >back-fromation from _are~lis_?
>
> That's what Pokorny insinuates ("vgl. lit. e~ras, ãras
> ,Adler' (ob alt?)").

I'm inclined to agree with him. A diminutive suffix -e~l-(is) is
extremely productive in Lithuanian (<kálnas> 'mountain; hill' ->
<kalne~lis> 'little hill, barrow', <vil~kas> 'wolf' -> <vilke~lis>
'little/young wolf'), so <are~l-is> could easily be re-analyzed as
<ar-e~lis> 'little/young +ãras'.

Sergei