Re: [tied] Re: Etymology of "Warsaw"

On 9/4/04 12:59 PM, tgpedersen wrote:

> It means "humidity" too.

Not outstandingly humid either.

> If it is that root, then it's from a
> language where *e > *a and after RUKI *s > *s^ (not *x as is
> Slavic).

RUKI *s becomes Slavic *x (in non-palatalising contexts) OR *s^ (in
palatalising contexts). After some morphological levellings both
consonants came to be commonly used as quasi-suffixes in Old Polish
hypocoristic names (such as Mil/osz from Milo-whatever or Stach ~
Staszek from Stanisl/aw). Warch ~ Warsz ~ Warszek from Warcisl/aw is an
impeccable example of that. The ending -owa suggests VERY strongly that
the base of the derivative is in fact a(n early owner's) personal name.

> And if it isn't Slavic, there's no need to reject the
> Baltic parallels. Temematic (except I forgot the rules of that
> hypothetical substrate language)?

Is there any archaeological or historical support for all these
may-have-beens? As far as my knowledge goes, Warsaw's name is hardly
likely to be older than the 13th century.

Piotr