On Sun, 27 Jan 2002 13:24:10 -0200, João Simões Lopes Filho
<
jodan99@...> wrote:
>An about Greek en-ydra and Latin lutra / ontra ? How could these forms be
>explained? What is the preffix en- ? And l-? Why lutra and ontra but not
>*udra ?
Greek en-(h)udris "otter" is simply *en-ud-r-i-, with prefixed en-.
The "water" word is often found with inserted nasal as *und- (Skt.
unátti, 3pl. undáti; Lat. unda "wave", Lith. vanduõ/unduõ "water"),
probably by metathesis from *udn-. The double -tt- that we see in
some Germanic forms of "otter" (like "otter"), may also be derived
through Kluge's Law from *udn-er > *ottar.
Latin lutra is, according to Coromines, a loan from Greek enudris,
enudrios, which would explain the VLat. byform nutria (= Cast. nutria
"otter"). I don't have a Latin et. dict., but this looks clearly like
an Etruscan-mediated borrowing (enudrios > (e)nutria ~ (e)lutria >
untra (> ontra) ~ lutra).
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...