Re: [tied] Ice age, plate tectonics and PIE

From: S.Kalyanaraman
Message: 19850
Date: 2003-03-15

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:> > Similarly, if they had depicted
an elephant on some epigraphs, they > > might have called it, say,
ibha
>
> "Might have"? They might have called it anything. How can you know
without deciphering the texts?
>
> > (recognized as a PIE word).
>
> "Ibha" is NOT recognised as a PIE word. Pace Gamkrelidze and
Ivanov, there is no reconstructible PIE 'elephant' word.

You are right, who knows?

I was wrong in calling it a PIE word. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov do find
cognates. (1995:443):

Sanskrit ibha, "male elephant­", corresponding to Latin ebur, "ivory,
elephant"; and Greek elephant‑ corresponding to Gothic ulbandus,
Tocharian *alpi, "camel". ibha/ebur, is also connected with Hebrew
shen-habbim, "tusk-of-elephant", "ivory". See also Greek
elephos, 'deer'.