[tied] Re: Saxon wanum "bright"

> > > I was simply wrong. The source on which the quote was based was
> > > apparently very rough, and without any indication of vowel

length.

> > > Being /wa:num/ with a long vowel, the only possible ancestor
> > > is /*we:num-/, that is in any case pre-IE. Interesting is the
> > > suffix /-um-/.
> > > So I can now only affirm that the nearest possible cognate of
> > Vanir
> > > is Greek /(w)anakt/. The central meaning is not "bright".
> > >

Nor is your proposal.

> > As far a I know, the only I.-E. etymology that has been
> > suggested for Gk. (w)anax is the same *wnh1- that Piotr

mentioned.

> > If so, the Vanir have lots of cognates. However, more likely
> > (w)anax isn't I.E. at all, but a pre-Greek title retained by the
> > Myceneans, in which case a connection to the Vanir seems

extremely

> > unlikely.
> > Dan
>
> But I always affirmed that Gr. (w)anaks isn't IE. It IS a pre-Greek
> word. And I never said that Vanir belong to IE world.

That is an interesting theory. If <Vanir> does not belong to the IE
world, then the word is not something the Germani made up themselves.
It must then belong to the world of some other language family. In
the real world. Now I wonder what kind of language and what language
family that would be? I will have to warn you, Marco, against
following this thought through to its logical conclusion or you'll
find yourself moderated.

>But a remote
> connection between pre-IE Germ. /*wan-/ and pre-Greek /*wan-/ is

not

> so implausible.

True. And the remoter, the more plausible?

>We find some substratum roots occurring in huge areas
> of Europe, from Spain to Baltic. In pre-IE times there were many
> languages, some related each other and some other isolated.
>

I see. So <Vanir> is now a substrate word in Germanic? Have you, in
the course of your studies, found a possible match for a hypothetical
non-IE *wan- (you might want to check the archives)?

I am glad to see you excellent theory grow strong now that unfair
competition has been removed.

Torsten