Re: [tied] The unexplained link between Greek/Latin and Tamil

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 09:20:09 +0000, "A.S.Sundar" <yasun52@...> wrote:

> 1)'Urb-` in Latin(L) means `city'. In Tamil (TL) `Ur'
>means `habitation',place where you live'.

The Latin word is derived from PIE *g^hordh- "enclosed place" (like Russian
gorod, -grad). No connection.

>It is used in everyday
>TL.The etymology for this word in TL is `to crawl' ie a `moving
>settlement'.Originally,this could have referred to `nomadic camps'
>which keeps moving from place to place.Later,when movements
>declined, permanent settlements also would have acquired the same
>name.It is interesting to note that in southern Iraq,there is a town
>named `Ur'. Some people say that even Sumerian language had this
>word, with the same meaning.I have no evidence on hand to believe
>that claim.

The Sumerian sign (-=||) is traditionally read URU, but its actual
pronunciation was probably /eri/ or /iri/. In view of Akkadian <a:lu>
"town", it has been suggested that the word was a Semitic borrowing into
Sumerian (it may also be the other way around). Talking about chance
resemblances, the Bizkaian Basque word for town is <uri> (standard Basque
<hiri>, from PB *hili).

>2)`Unus' in L is `oinos' in OL or `oine' in Gk ,which means `one'.

Greek <oine:> is not a common word and it actually means "the side of a
dice with one dot on it". Both the Greek and Latin words are derived from
PIE *oi-no-s, with variants *oi-ko-s (Skt. e:ka-) and *oi-wo-s (Av.
ae:va-). The operative part is *oi-, which does not occur in Dravidian.

>In TL one is `onru' derived from `onn'.In spoken TL, the word `onnu' is
>extensively used. Extensive usage of this word is also noticed in
>Malayalam, the youngest of the Dravidian languages.

The other Dravidian languages point to *on.t.u (e.g. Kurukh on.t.a:, Gondi
undi:, Konda unr_i, Kananda ondu, Irula vondu).

...

> Regarding `chance resemblance' as a
>possibility ,please read my suggestions on `chance resemblances' in
>Linguist List 14.1630 before responding.

I've read it now. You are apparently unaware of the exact meaning of the
word "doublet". Greek palaiós and têle are doublets, because they both
derive from the same root *kWeh1l-. Tamil palaia and tholai are not
doublets, because they derive from two completely different roots.

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