Piotr Gasiorowski <
gpiotr@...> wrote:
>> (except via some sort of izzical metathesis) <<
If you are not careful, this palindromic version of my
nickname could enter the English language. :-)
>> I believe the association of oaks with thunderstorms was
folk-etymological. I don't see any linguistic evidence for
it outside Baltic (with *perku:nas 'thunderer' ...
It is quite possible that the rock = thunder association is
due to semantic contamination as well. The Slavic
'thunderbolt' word is quite transparently related to
*per(h2)- 'strike' and perhaps indirectly to *porh2- 'split,
penetrate, push on' (Hittite parh-, Slavic *por(-je)-ti,
Gothic faran, etc.). <<
Compare Hebrew BaRaK = lightning, (Israeli prime minister
Ehud) Barak, and (Egyptian president Hosny) Mubarak.
ciao,
Israel Cohen
izzy_cohen@...