Re: Mammoth

From: Gerry Reinhart-Waller
Message: 922
Date: 2000-01-14

----- Original Message -----
From: Rex H. McTyeire
To: cybalist@eGroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 1:18 PM
Subject: [cybalist] Re: Pelasgian-Cretan-Philistines


Rex writes: I read recently that the word "mammoth" was from
Lithuanian..
and was derived from two words "Ma Muth" (or close to that) meaning
large "mole" (or ground dwelling animal). I'm a few weeks away from the
reference, but that is what I remember of it. Do any of you linguists
know enough Lithuanian to comment or confirm/deny/correct this appraisal
(or
my memory of it)?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know enough to swear on the Bible that there's nothing of the
kind in Lithuanian. The Lithuanian word for a mole is kurmis, and the
Lithuanians of a few centuries ago knew precious little about mammoths.
The 17th-century Russian word mammot (also mamut, modern mamont) is a
borrowing from one of the languages of Siberia; it may derive from
distorted Evenki (Tungus) ña:mand(r)i. I recall having read that it is
related to a Tungusic word for 'earth', but I'd have to check that.
Anyway, mammoths were considered to be giant burrowing animals among the
peoples of Siberia. I think they were also believed to die when they
emerged into daylight; that accounted for the fact that only DEAD
mammoths could be found in the thawing permafrost. Their bodies were
more often than not in rather poor shape, with the trunk and the ears
missing etc. Even to those who saw them it wasn't quite clear what they
had looked like when still alive. I've seen early drawings or
"reconstructions" in which mammoths resemble oversize boars. But their
tusks were well known; mammoth ivory was a valuable commodity in
Siberia.

Piotr

--------------------------------------------------------------

I consulted by old Unabridged and discovered that BOTH of you are
correct, at least according to Webster. The term _mammoth_ is from
Russian _mamot_, _mamont_, _mamat_ perhaps from a Yakut word derived
from the belief that the mammoths burrowed in the earth like moles.

BTW, Piotr, I recall Alekseev mentioning an archaeological site where
the tusk of a mammoth was discovered only the tusk was straight like a
broom handle. Do you know of a process whereby someone could straighten
the tusk of a mammoth?
Gerry
--

Gerald Reinhart
Independent Scholar
(650) 321-7378
waluk@...
http://www.alekseevmanuscript.com