From: Joao S. Lopes
Message: 68986
Date: 2012-03-14
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> One interesting fact about the European red squirrel is that it while it
> may make its dray in any tree that has a hole in it, it can't metabolise
> tannins and so *doesn't* feed on acorns and has *no* symbiotic
> relationship with oaks (which is one the main reasons why the imported
> grey squirrel has a competitive advantage over it).
>
I think the association between 'squirrel' and 'oak' is possibly a folk etymology (actually, the most conspicuous acorn eaters are pigs), although this doesn't necessarily implies your proposal is right.
> > I wonder further whether Lat. <vi:verra> 'ferret' belongs with purported
> > deformations of PIE *wer-wer-, or originated with the same *h1eigWern-
> > vel sim., with initial /w/ acquired from <vi:vus> 'alive' (sc.
> > 'vigorous') by folk-etymology. This can drive a man nutty.
>
> This won't work for Balto-Slavic *waiweri- 'squirrel', however.
>
IMHO the original meaning of *wer- was 'tail' (cfr. Greek ourá), and it's the base of the Greek compounds aiél-ouros, áil-ouros 'some k. of animal (wildcat or weasel)', ski-ouros 'squirrel'.
Reduplication of this root in Balto-Slavic, Celtic and Latin is comparable to the one of *bhebhr-u- 'beaver', which in my own model could perfectly be a different output of the same PIE root (beavers also have a long tail).