Re: [tied] Re: A "Germanic" query

But <erilaz> occurs commonly in Old Runic, long before the loss of medial /x/. As I have just shown, the addition of an orthographic <h-> in Latinised Germanic proper names is both explicable and well documented. Neither in Scandinavian nor in West Germanic, where the syncopated variant *erla- is amply attested, does it have religious connotations. The "erils" were people -- Germanic VIPs of some kind, to be sure, but not gods, demigods or legendary heroes.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 11:11 AM

Subject: [tied] Re: A "Germanic" query

How about the etymology I proposed in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/11838 *) (please ignore the headline)? Tacitus(?) says the Germani worshiped Hercules. If his name went unchanged (sort of) between Greek, Romans and Etruscans, the Germani might have known him under the same name.

*)

And if Greek Herakles, Etruscan Hercle, Latin Hercules was borrowed into pre-Proto-Germanic it would (assuming they dropped the unfamiliar <h>) become *er(V)x(V)l- (zero or one V) in Proto-Germanic and *er(V)l- in Proto-North-Germanic (<x> is dropped in inlaut and auslaut causing long vowel which would shorten and then disappear in unstressed syllable). So if Hercules is *wagn- is Mars, then the bloodthirsty rites of the Heruli are rites for Mars, also described similarly. (Perhaps even the "borrowed <h>" might explain "h- droppping" in herul-/eril- that linguists (or historians?) have permitted themselves, without sufficient explanation.