[tied] Re: Vampire [was: Pagan, heathen ...]

>
> In view of this amassment of arbitrary suggestions (an ad hoc infix
> plus an ad hoc suffix), I'd say that the orthodox etymology of
> <vampire> (Slavic *[v]o~pyrI) is preferable. It leaves nothing
> unexplained and has the advantage of relating the Slavic words for
> 'vampire' and 'bat' to each other.
>
> See
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/14259
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/14263
>
> The interpretation I personally prefer is 'that which flies in', since
> 'in' is the normal meaning of Slavic *(v)o~ (the compositional form of
> the preposition/preverb *vUn-) in nouns.
>
> Why gloss <vampire> as 'devil'? A vampire is a vampire.
>
> Piotr
>

Piotr--

Does *(v)o- really account for the mass of divergent outcomes this
prefix takes in the attested forms? I don't know about "leaves nothing
unexplained".... How do you explain u-, vam-, va-, vU-, etc.?

Jim Rader