Re: [tied] Proto-German *u:r-

----- Original Message -----

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 10:22 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] Proto-German *u:r-

On 05-03-03 14:28, João Simões Lopes Filho wrote:

> What's the Proto-Germanic word for "wild ox"? *u:raz or *u:ruz ? Is
> there equivalents in Gothic? What are the Gothic words for "bull"?

A u-stem *u:ru- 'aurochs' is suggested by OIc. gen.sg. úrar, though the
distribution of a-stems and u-stems in Germanic varies dialectally.
There's no Biblical Gothic equivalent as far as I know, but <uraz> (sic,
suggesting *u:ra-) occurs in the 10th-c. Vienna-Salzburg Codex as the
name of the Gothic letter U (from the Runic tradition, of course). As
the word was known to the Romans by Caesar's time (who describes the
aurochs among the North European megafauna alongside the elk [North
Americans please read "moose"] and a fabulous beast that might or might
not be a third-hand description of the reindeer), there's no reason to
question its PGmc. status.

The article on "cow" words in the EIEC suggests *u:r- < *uzr- < *usr-,
connecting it with Skt. usrá- 'bull', usually analysed as *h2us-ró-
'(the colour) of the dawn light', cf. <usra:> 'red cow' (as a
personification of daybreak).

Piotr