Re: [tied] Re: *pYerkW+

On 2007-05-26 16:12, tolgs001 wrote:

> gpiotr wrote:
>
>> In my opinion, the Slavic word could be a blend involving
>> Germanic *xarsta- and Slavic *xvostU 'tuft, clump; tail'
>> /*xvastU 'weed'.
>
> How about this etymological explanation given by my German
> dictionary for der Quast and die Quaste ['kvast&] ("Büschel;
> Bausch")?
>
> <<Mittelhochdeutsch quast(e) "Büschel, Wedel von einem
> Baum, Laubbüschel, Federbüschel" < germanisch *kwastu;
> zu indogermanischem *guos-, *gues-, *gus- "Gezweig, Laub-
> werk">>

That's Pokorny's *gwosdo- (which looks more like an obscured compound
than a simplex word), attested in Slavic, Germanic and Albanian. Here,
however, the Slavic cognate is *gvozdU 'dense wood'.

Piotr