From: Darwin R. Garcia
Message: 5380
Date: 2001-01-09
----- Original Message -----From: Piotr GasiorowskiSent: 2001 January 8 Monday 20:18Subject: Re: [tied] Re: etruscanNo, perhaps I didn't express myself clearly enough. The only area where *da:nu- still meant 'river' about the time when the Germanic languages were formed was the Iranian-speaking or Iranian-influenced lands. The historical river Tanais was of course the Don, and Danastris was the Dniester, both running where expected. If the Danes were to have received their name from the Don or the like, you'd have to explain how they ended up as one of the North Germanic tribes.Possibly, the Danes were named after the river which they predominantly used to trade with the eastern folk. The locals would not know of the originating location of the Danes and most probably had little or no knowledge of their language either. I wonder if this idea has any precedents in other parts of the world/history.