"piotr gasiorowski" <
gpiot-@...> wrote:
original article:
http://www.egroups.com/group/cybalist/?start=933
> 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.
Congrats, Piotr! That looks like a bull's eye. Now, what do you think
of Russian "Orsha" (name of a town near Moscow) - could that have
developed from *UrstU?
> The Polish word for a bear's lair is barÅóg (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
I don't think I'll be saying anything new, but I know it's "berloga" in
Russian. 'Ber-' probably comes from the same root as "buryi"=brown (as
in "buryi medved'") - either from the time of the German-Slavic
schpachbund (which, I think, you continue to question) or
independently, while '-loga' seems to be from the PIE *legh-/logh- (as
in Russian "lozhe", Spanish "leche" = 'bed, resting place').
GK