From: "Piotr Gasiorowski" <
gpiotr@...>
.. but an alternative has just occurred to me. Polish has sus 'a
leap', susac' (of a hare) 'leap'. Does sus- occur in Russian? Maybe
*susUlU is simply a 'leaper'? (An ultimate connection with the
Baltic words, with a common expressive root, *k^euk^- 'spring up' or
the like, not ruled out.)
[S] A nice shot in the dark, but I think you have missed with "sus"
which is an alternative form od "szus" and that comes from German
"Schuss" . English "shoot" also means "to go swiftly and suddenly,
to rush"
The good news is that you are probably on the right track, because
Polish "susel" (gopher) is derived from the sound that animal
makes - from ChurchSl. "sysati" to hiss or squeak. Gopher is also a
name for ground-squirrel as well as other burrowing rodents. The
etymology of gopher is derived fron French "gaufre". honeycomb and
that by a circuitous route was associated with the sucking noise
those animals make.
Hence a Polish old expression "he drinks like a gopher" (pije jak
susel) was derived from the word "suck" (sysac, Russ. suslit') Suck
and hiss are similar noises.
A bit involved but it can be unravelled with a bit of linguistic
goodwill :-))
Stefan