Odp: re: girl

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 637
Date: 1999-12-18

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
To: Piotr Gasiorowski ; cybalist@egroups.com
Sent: Friday, December 17, 1999 11:41 PM
Subject: [cybalist] re: girl

Piotr writes:

 1.. Orël & Stolbova in their Hamito-Semitic (= Afroasiatic)
Etymological Dictionary (1995) reconstruct the Proto-Afroasiatic word
for 'woman' as *nüs-. I'm not competent to discuss the validity of this
reconstruction, though it is certainly odd that the next entry is...
*nüs- 'man'.

Gerry here:  Piotr, do you, or does anyone else on the list, have an
explanation for the above.  I find it intriguing that the same word is
used for both man and woman.  And which time frame are we talking about?
gerry
Gerry:
As for the dating and placing of Proto-Afroasiatic, opinions vary. J. Nichols (1998) maintains it is 12000 years old, but most specialists propose less ambitious dates. As Proto-Semitic seems to date back to the fifth millennium BC or thereabouts (Akkadian was already spoken in Mesopotamia about 3000 BC), and Old Egyptian certainly existed well before 3000 BC, Proto-Afroasiatic must be substantially older. I trust that Alexander will know something about the archaeological cultures which could be associated with Proto-Afroasiatic or Proto-Semitic speakers.
 
As for *nüs-, I can only cite Allan Bomhard's (1999) opinion that "the meaning 'woman' appears to be secondary". Bomhard is a well-known American Nostraticist, so if he questions the equation with PIE *snuso-, it isn't because of any anti-Nostratic prejudices. Orël & Stolbova have some other PA 'woman' terms as wel, e.g. *süt- 'adult woman; woman of high social status'. I know really too little about Afroasiatic to assess their evidence and comment on the reconstructed forms.
 
Alexander:
Are you by any chance related to Olga Stolbova, the co-author of the Afroasiatic etymological dictionary?
 
Piotr