Re: [tied] Fjall, pilis, polis...

I think <Vor-> somehow expresses the idea of that part of Pomerania being "in front" of the rest, i.e. nextto German lands. Slavic <po-> (a preposition as well as a suffix) means more or less "(extending) as far as". Cf. Polish Polesie < *po-le^sIje 'the country reaching the forests', pogórze < *po-gorIje 'the submontane zone', etc.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: markodegard@...

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 1:35 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] Fjall, pilis, polis...

Piotr writes: >Slavic *polje is an old *-jo-m neuter, while <opole> >is a typical nomen loci in *-Ije < *-ijo-m (as in >Pomorze 'Pomerania' < *po-morIje 'seaside' : *morje 'sea'). I didn't know that. I did recognize the German form, Vorpommern as having a preposition. In the light of Piotr's etymology, this seems a redundant. In English, the state is 'Mecklenburg-West Pomerania'. Is someone gonna tell me 'Vor' can mean 'west[ern]' in German? Before-the-sea-land, Seacoast-land. How old is this? It seems to be a 'native' word tarted up with a Latin ending.