Re: [tied] Re: *ag- [Was: (w)anax]

----- Original Message -----

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2000 3:20 PM

Subject: [tied] Re: *ag- [Was: (w)anax]

 

----- Original Message -----

From: João Simões Lopes Filho

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2000 5:29 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] [w]anax

My transcription *w@...- (you can interpret it as *w plus syllabic *n) represents the nil grade of *wen- as in Old Irish fine 'tribe' < *wen-ja:- kinship' or Old English wine 'friend' < *wen-i- (plus of course many other cognates such as Skt. vanati < *wen-e-, Latin venus, Skt. vanas- < *wen-es-, Veneti < *wen-eto-, etc.).

 

Old Greek agós 'leader' (cf. strate:gos, strata:gos) is another member of the vast word-family derived from *xag- 'lead, drive' (one of the very earliest pastoralist terms, I suppose). There are several different agent nouns derived from it (agent- < *xag-(o)nt- is actually one of them). The form *ag-t- is evocative of Celtic (Gaulish) ambactus < *ambH(i)-ag-t- 'servant, vassal' (literally = 'busy about'), borrowed into Latin and Germanic (e.g. Gothic andbaht- and, curiously, Modern German Amt 'office' < MHG ammet, ambet < OHG ambaht-).

 

Quiz: what Modern English words are related to ambactus? Clue: English borrowed them from Old French, which borrowed them from Old Italian, which borrowed them from Old Provençal, which borrowed them from some Germanic dialect, which ....

 

Piotr

 

Joao: What are the other cognates of *w@... "tribe"?

The compound *w@... is very plausible! I've ever known that anax was some kind of non-IE loanword, but now my opinion has changed.