From: dgkilday57
Message: 71224
Date: 2013-05-31
>Beekes regards _'anthro:pos_ 'man, human being' as Pre-Greek on the grounds that no good IE etymology has been proposed. Guentert (cited by Pokorny, IEW 41) proposed 'beard-faced', connecting the first element with the 'awn, chaff, barb' group of _an'e:r_, _anth'erix_, _anth'eriskos_, etc. Beekes considers this group Pre-Greek also, since the IE ablaut *h2endH-/*h2n.dH- could give only Greek _anth-_, not _ath-_. However, within this group only _ath'e:r_ and its derivatives lack the nasal, so folk-etymology with _ath'a:re:_, _ath'e:re:_ 'wheat-meal broth, gruel' (of Egyptian origin according to Pliny) is possible, replacing *anth- with _ath-_ here. Thus I would not rule out a PIE root *h2endH- 'to make prickly' vel sim., whence *h2n.dHr'o- 'prickly growth, whiskers, beard' > Greek *anthr'os, and following Guentert _'anthro:pos_ 'beard-faced one, grown man' > 'man' > 'human being'.
> Beekes - Etymological Dictionary of Greek
>
> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2MQAxDmRLhubVY2djhicnVzRWs/edit (both tomes
> in one pdf)
>
> Cheers