Re: [tied] bison

On Sun, 19 Jan 2003 20:16:27 +0100, "alex_lycos" <altamix@...>
wrote:

>bison - 1611, from L. bison "wild ox," borrowed from P.Gmc. *wisand-
>"aurochs," also source of O.E. wesend. Possibly ult. of Baltic or Slavic
>origin
>
>We see here the P.Gmc word is very near at the Latin form: bison/wisand.

Well yes: the Latin word was _borrowed_ from Germanic.

>In the Germanic world it is said the name comes from the fact this bison
>stunk. It seems Prussian allows compositions like Germanic languages and
>we have meadow = weissi and bison= zambras. So this could easy give an
>wissambras and there is no contamination there. Of course can be that
>there is no composition and that "wiss" means something else as meadow.I
>make this connection because the attested forms for the word at the
>ancient Greek writers are as follows:
>
>Zómbros, Zómbron but at Nicetta Chon. the form is "Zoúmpros"

Which Greek writers? Where? When? What do they say the word means? Are
you aware of the Greek pronunciation of <z>?

>If the animal was called because of its stench then we should try to see
>in Slavic or other languages where the form "zambr-" still exist to find
>cognates for "stink" which have a form like "zambr-". Are there any?

Why should there be? The part that means "stink" is *wis-, which has
nothing to do with Slavic *zombrU, Lith. stumbras or Latvian sumbrs.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...