I think I have identified a probable Lithuanian
reflex of the PIE bear word (*xrtkos). I have an odd sense of
deja vu when I look at it -- a vague recollection of having seen an article
reporting something similar, possibly in one of the back issues of the
Indogermanishe Forschungen, three or four years ago. Unfortunately, I
cannot check it now.
Both the Balts and the Slavs (as well as the
Germani) replaced the inherited bear word with descriptive terms. Some kind of
taboo was probably the reason for that. The Slavic bear word derives from
*medhu-ed- 'hunny-eater' > *medwe:dI (cf.
Russian medved'). Lithuanian has lokys which
goes back to Proto-Baltic *tla:kijas 'shaggy'. However, a
bear's lair is called irštva. I'm not sure yet how to cut this
word morphologically, but the most likely division seems to me at the moment to
be iršt-va, and the iršt- part is the expected
hypothetical development of *xrtk- in Baltic (assuming
metathesis *xrtk- > *xrkt-as in Greek). I
gather the word may also mean a layer or bed of something (I haven't explored
these things fully yet). There is, IMO, a possible etymological connection with
Polish warstwa 'layer' < *wUrstwa <
(conjecturally) *Urst-wa: < Proto-Balto-Slavic
*rCt-wa: (I write *C for the common
Balto-Slavic reflex of satem *k', probably an
affricate).
If the above etymologies stand up to scrutiny, the
Proto-Balto-Slavic bear may be reconstructed as *rCtas,
yielding Slavic *UrstU and Baltic *irštas. PIE
bears may still be lurking in some unexpected places.
The Polish word for a bear's lair is
barłóg (also with secondary senses like 'layer' or
'makeshift/untidy bed'). The etymological dictionaries I have consulted
take it to be of Slavic origin (< *bUrlogU, however this
should be analysed), but I find it hard to believe it has no Germanic
connections. Does anyone out there know anything about such bear-related terms
in Slavic and other North European languages?
Piotr