Permian

Timothy Riese's chapter on Permina in Danial Abondolo (ed.)'s "The
Uralic Languages" mentions the following three theories on the
connection between Russian Perm and ON Bjarma-land

1 Zyrian origin, related to Komi parma "certain kind of mountain
ridge"
2 Baltic-Fennic origin, related to hypthetical *perä-maa "back
country, hinterland"
3 Scandinavian origin, cognate with Germanic *berm-, *barm- (English
brim) "border, shore"

Of course when I find a word with *b/p-r- in it which means "one
side of waterway" (Dutch berm "shoulder of road") I can't keep my
mouth shut. The interesting part in the Germanic root is the *-m-
suffix, which has no explanation there, which makes it tempting to
assume an Uralic origin (but cf. Proto-Finno-Ugric *maGe- "land",
proto-Germanic *mad- "meadow").
So now we know why it's called Bremen and Birmingham. Or?


Torsten