Re: [tied] Re: Something for Sergejus

The standard derivation from *ish1ros 'strong, mighty' is unassailable (Skt. is.ira- 'vigorous, fresh', Gk. hieros). In Thracian, *ish1ros > *isros > *istros. There are several similar rivernames distibuted from Central Europe to the British Isles, derived from (Proto-Celtic?) *isara:-. The ancient Iranians apparently lost the word or at least failed to document it (though it must have existed in PIIr); the expected reflex would be *is^ra-. The only Iranian cognate that occurs to me is Avestan aes^ma- 'fury', as in the name *ais^ma-daiwa- 'Asmodeus', imported into Hebrew demonology.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2001 9:50 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Something for Sergejus

On Sun, 28 Oct 2001 19:49:42 -0000, "Sergejus Tarasovas" <S.Tarasovas@...> wrote: >As for the Thracian (in Greek rendering) <I'stros> >'the Lower Danube' < (?) *is-ro- 'running in some specific way' < >*eis-:is- 'move (quickly) etc', cf. Old Prussian (in German >rendering) <Inster>, <Instrud>, <Instrut> < OPruss *Instra: >'hydronym' < Baltic *ins-ra- 'flowing swiftly' < *ins- 'be moved >quickly' + *-ra- < (through infixation) *eis-:is- and Lith. E'isra >'hydronym' < *eis-ra- < *eis-. Just an uninformed guess: couldn't <Istros> also be from *srowos "flowing, river" (srowos > stro(o)s > istros)? I know we have Thracian <Strumo:n> (< *sru-men) without i-, but who can say whether the "Thracian" in one classical source is the same "Thracian" as in another (or even the same) classical source?