It is not 100% certain that the Herulians' ethnic name and *erilaz
are cognate. If they are, the <h-> is parasitic, as in "Hermanaric" =
Ermana-ri:ks or "Hermunduri" with the same intensive prefix. The
occurrence of such prothetic aitches in Germanic names cited by
Classical sources is a reflection the fact that late Latin
orthographic <h-> was already mute.
Piotr
--- In cybalist@..., "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> How does one explain the vanishing <h-> of Heruli vs. erila- ?
>
> Torsten