--- In cybalist@..., "Sergejus Tarasovas" <S.Tarasovas@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@..., "Alexander Stolbov" <astolbov@...> wrote:
> > [A.]
> > IFAIK, the stem of this word is common IE, not a Celtic
innovation.
> So we
> > may expect to find reflexes of it in Balto-Slavic as well. No
need
> to
> > explain everything as borrowings.
>
> Yes I know. But I wonder how would you derive, eg, Slavic
> *DunajI/DunavU ofrom *da:nu? Something beginnig with *Dan- is
> expected. Baltic *dun- (or even *dan-, though it seemes to be of
> secondary origin) can hardly continue *da:nu- as well.
> >
> > BTW, in Northern Russian dialects "dunaj" means "brook, small
> stream".
> > In the basin of Dnieper there are a lot of rivers with names
> Dunaets and
> > Dunavets.
>
> I know ('brook, small stream' is attested in Baltic as well). And
do
> you know how it's usually explained? As a result of some strong
> influence from and/or memory of the Danubian region. I don't want
to
> say I buy this explanation', but, if those are not a Baltisms, one
> should operate PIE *dau-n-:*dou-n-
>
> > Besides, Dunai is presented in Russian folklore too, as a special
> river,
> > often without binding with any historical events.
> >
> Sergei
Nice linguists like me don't try to associate Adon/Odin with *D-n-
"river" and even worse with AA "adam" meaning things like "red"
and "earth". I know. But then I came across Lucian:
Lucian of Samosata:
Peri Tes Syries Theoy
De Dea Syria
"
8 - And in the land of Byblos is another marvel, a river flowing out
of Mount Lebanon into the sea, which is called the Adon. Every year
it becomes blood-red, losing its natural hue, and when it flows into
the sea, it reddens a large part of it; and this is a signal for
mourning to the inhabitants of Byblos.
{The Adonis is the present Nahr Ibrahim, a short distance S. of
Byblos. "I have crossed it on Easter day when it was turbid and ruddy
with the rich red sandstone soil from Lebanon" (C.R.Conder,
Palestine, p. 206). A similar discoloration of certain unnamed rivers
and springs is implied in the tale of Philo of Byblos that Uranus was
mutilated by Kronos at a certain place in the interior near springs
and rivers, that his blood flowed into them, and that the place was
still pointed out. Epiphanius (adv. Haeres. 51, 30) bears personal
witness that at the exact day and hour of the miracle of Cana the
water of a spring at Cibyra in Caria used to turn into wine, and on
the word of his brothers that the same was true of the river of
Gerasa in Arabia. He does not tell us who is his warrant in the case
of the Nile, but observes that that is why the natives bottle and set
away Nile-water on a certain date.(comment by the publisher)}
"
at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2938/deasyria1.html
Make of it what you want. I give up.
Torsten