Re: Germanic 'bear'

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Tavi" <oalexandre@...> wrote:

>
> For example, using the comparative method I can reconstruct perfectly
> valid IE etymologies of the Germanic words for 'bear' and 'horse', whose
> reconstructed meanings are respectively 'wild animal' and 'to run'. As
> they're different from the ones found in "common IE", the traditional
> explanation is the latter were replaced in Proto-Germanic by tabooistic
> reasons. However, I think it's more likely the Germanic words were the
> ones not replaced by the common IE words and not the other way around.
>

I link Germanic *bir-o:n 'bear' to Altaic *bì:re 'female of a predator' (Tungusic *birin id., Mongolian *ber- 'young of wolf', Turkic *bö:rü 'wolf') and ultimately to IE *g´hwe:r- 'wild animal', with reduction of the initial labiovelar cluster.

The Turkic and Mongolian forms suggest this could be the origin of NEC *XXHwej-rV 'dog' (oblique case), a Wanderwort also found in Uralic *kojra 'male (dog, human)', Kartvelian (Svan) *xwir- 'male (dog)', Berber *?a-bajrru 'fox' and possibly also Spanish perro 'dog'.