Re: Peacock

From: romilly@...
Message: 7899
Date: 2001-07-16

--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Rigvedic mayu:ra- 'peacock' (mayu:ri:- 'peahen') was borrowed from
Dravidian *mayil/*mayir (Zvelebil 1990), perhaps influenced by ma:yu-
'bleating'; cf. Tam. maJJai, mayil; northern Kasaba dialect of Irula
muyiru, Tulu mairu, Konda mrIlu, miril. This in turn seems to have
been borrowed from Proto-Munda *ma-ra? 'crier' with further
connections troughout SE Asia (cf. Malay merak 'peacock').

Forms similar to "mrak, m@..., m@...?" also occur in various Mon-Khmer
languages, as well as some Indonesian regional languages (surely
borrowed from Ml. or Javanese). I would assume it's onomatopoetic,
so perhaps not truly "reconstructible".