--- "Jo�o_S._Lopes_Filho" <
jodan99@...> wrote:
> Could be TIRGUTAWIA, TIRGATA and TARKHU related to
> IE *dHrg^Hu- "strong,
> bold" ?
******GK: My impression had been that this Goddess
originated in the Middle East and that her name
therefore might me reconstructed by reference to some
non-IE languages. That she was "borrowed" by the
Scythians and brought back to Scythia, adapted to
local myths etc..=== But if your surmise that the name
actually IS IE is backed up by other linguists, then a
different explanation would have to be sought for its
emergence. It would be a Middle Eastern borrowing FROM
IE rather than the other way around. At any rate we're
looking at roughly the mid-second millennium BC for
the first known uses (Hittite, Mitannian). The
Scythian Foundation Legend claims that TARGITAUS
flourished "1,000 years" before Darius' invasion of
Scythia. This obviously needs to be taken with a grain
of salt, but IS indicative of "high antiquity" and
certainly as prior to the first arrival of the Royal
Scythians west of the Don. Any more ideas, anyone?
*****
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