Re: Day and dies, deus and theos

A long overdue thank you to all those who have responded!

Piotr: all the etymologies you've criticized are from the OED (examples below). I'm beginning to get the impression that the OED is a bit dated, not just its "Teutonic" terminology, but its etymologies as well. The OED is usually a beginner's first choice for Germanic etymologies, because it is the biggest and it looks impressively modern compared to other dictionaries (when I pulled out Walde's Latin etymology there was a cloud of dust that made other library guests turn their heads with hostile glances...).

Piotr:
You've got something wrong here. Good derives from PGmc *go:da- (of uncertain origin), but God < *gudan, very likely from *g^Hu(h)-tó- 'invoked' (of gods and other supernatural forces), derived from a root that is found mainly in Indo-Iranian and Slavic ---

There are some problems here: the "burn" root is really *dHegWH- (cf. Greek tephra 'ashes' < *dHegWH-ro-), and *dHogWHos (with its o-grade) should have given PGmc *dagwaz rather than *dagaz; secondly, the semantic connection between "day" and "burn, heat" (also "ashes, tar") is a bit strained. Many linguists prefer to link Germanic *dagas to Old Indic ahar (Gen. ahnas) 'day' < h2ag^H-r, *h2ag^H(e)n-. The initial *d in Germanic has been explained as "stolen" from a preceding demonstrative pronoun (*tod h2ag^Hr 'that day' > *..d-h2ag^Hr > *dHagHr > Germanic *dag-).
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I thought that was strained too, but then I thought "if it sez so in the OED..." On the other hand, isn't the idea of a "stolen d" a little strained as well? Are there other examples of this?

So (Eng.) tug is related to (Lat.) duco! I could never have guessed that - in my head these words are connected to very different associations, duco is associated with a dux, a proud and despotic officer sitting on his horse. This is the kind of connections that makes etymology exciting to me.
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Peter:
The root is quite complex, with different ablaut
forms, and it sounds as if you've got access to Pokorny, so it's worth
looking up - page 183.
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I haven't got easy access to this book - there's a copy at the Royal Library in the center of Stockholm, but I usually work the same hours as they are open :o) I will return to it when possible.

Hakan