After reading the several posts about possible and discredited cognates of
Indo-Iranian "Arya", several thoughts and questions come to mind:
1) Is AngloSaxon "Ar" cognate to the synonymous German "Ehre"?
2) Are there any good alternative theories about Old Celtic "Arios", other
than being cognate to "Arya", which some here have cast doubt on?
3) Semantically at least, it would seem reasonable and possibly simplest to
derive the above, excluding the Germanic (given the now-accepted derivation
from a different root), words from PIE h1ar- "to fit", since "fitting",
"noble", "honorable", and (in Hindu jargon English) "Aryan" are synonyms in
current usage among people of IE cultures.
4) Is there any possibility that there is some sentiment involved in trying
to distance any European words from "Arya" due to the Nazi abuse of the
word? (Parallel to the demonization of the holy svastika sign in the West,
due again to Nazi abuse.)
5) In any case, if it is assumed that these various similar words with
nearly-identical meanings are from different sources, it is very interesting
that the concept of "noble, honorable" would coincidentally be represented
by such similar but unrelated words. It is hardly the only case of different
IE languages developing similar-sounding words for the same or similar
concepts from entirely different roots. Has this phenomenon been explored by
anyone yet?
Thanks!
~Mark
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