--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> On 2009-04-03 00:13, alexandru_mg3 wrote:
>
> > b) the second 'bosom, breast'
>
> Was it refarded as a characteristically _bare_ body part among the
> Germani? *Bo:sma- doesn't even necessarily refer to the breast(s). I
> know the word best from the Old English context, where it usually means
> the interior of something or a hidden space, such as that created by the
> folded arms, rather than somethin open or exposed.
>
> Piotr
>
1. I agree on the 'swollen' attribute of this 'body part' or of 'that area' -> maybe this attribute could be the originar one than 'the naked' aspect...'swollen' could be the original meaning, and 'naked' a secondary one.
2. Your point is presented also below with 'would be':
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bosom&searchmode=none
"The primary notion would be "enclosure formed by the breast and the arms."
But nothing is marked above related to 'an exposure' or to 'a non exposure'
3. To identify the original meaning we would need also to check all the meanings in all the other Germanic Languages not only in OE.
4. bHám.sa- 'abdominal part' is not in Monier Williams so I couldn't check his definition..but for sure Pokorny quotation is a correct one (I found it referenced also somewhere else).
Do you have a dictionary that quote this word?
5. Finally a formation *bHos-smo- has a slightly different meaning than a formation *bHos-o-
-smo is formed from an older -s-mo- where -mo is not directed the part but something generated/derived by/from that part (or by that action)
So your point 'an internal space of...' is not at all in contradiction, is quite in line with the idea of a -mo derivative of a reconstructed *bHos-s-/bHos-so-
where the bHos- derivatives are 'a kind of swollen limb'
(abdominal part, bosom part, foot part)
and I also think that these parts are related to naked body and not to a covered one....
Marius