From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 18502
Date: 2003-02-07
----- Original Message -----
From: <kalyan97@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 4:11 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: On Arguing of the Mighty Saraswati River
> About Haraxwaiti. Many Croats claim that they are descendants from this region.
Not MANY Croats. A group of Croats running a website where they promote Croat nationalism. One part of their message is that the Croats are not really Slavs but a lost Iranian tribe from the Cloud-Cuckoo-Land of Arachosia.
> Sarasvati > Haraxwaiti > Hravat > Kravat > Croat.
Counter? Nationalism!
The name *xUrvat- may well be Iranian (at least it _looks_ Iranian), but, enigmatic as it is, it can't have anything to do with Haraxwaiti. Several etymologists (including Vasmer and Trubachev) have attempted to explain it in various ways and with varying luck. I have myself contemplated a few possibilities, e.g. a connection with Iranian *harva- (Av. hauruua-, Skt. sarva-) 'whole, complete, healthy'. This would square quite well with <kHoroatHos> from the Tanais inscription, and with George's idea that the "original" Croats ewere regarded as borderguards or defenders. It should go without saying, though, that whatever the origin of the name, that all Croats are linguistically Slavic and the name is the only possibly Iranian thing about them.
Piotr