On 2006-05-16 09:59, tgpedersen wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...> wrote:
>> A name like "kain" or "koin" could be onomatopeic.
>>
>> Joao SL
>
> It may helps if one speaks Portuguese. Danish dogs go "vov".
But Polish dogs go <hau-hau>, with an initial velar or glottal fricative
([xaw] or [haw], cf. Spanish <jau-jau> ~ <guau-guau> and Arabic
<haw-haw>). French dogs go <ouah-ouah> or <ouaf-ouaf>, and Chinese ones,
<wang-wang>. In the South Siberian Turkic language Tofa dogs go
<ham-ham> or <hong-hong>. In Catalan, <bup-bup>; In English, <wow-wow>,
<bow-wow> or <woof-woof>; in Japanese, <wan-wan>; in Korean,
<meong-meong> (pronounced like "mung"); in Hindi, <bho-bho>; in
Portuguese, <au-au>. It's evident that labial and velar (or uvular,
pharyngeal, glottal) elements, often accompanied by nasality, occur here
to the exclusion of coronals; [w]-like sounds are especially common. All
that makes "kain" or "koin" look doubtful as convincing attempts at
imitating dogs. On the other hand, the *k^w- part of PIE *k^wo:n, if it
could be derived from something like pre-PIE **k(H)aw-, would be a
plausible onomatopoeic root. It's just a possibility -- I don't know
how, how-how, it could be proved.
Piotr