--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> I doubt it, since the combination is rare and the Older Runic
records are few, but since early Runic did not lose its <h> in any
other position (preserving e.g. hr-, hl-, and -VhV-), you'd have to
resort to ad hoc pleading to account for the absence of <h> and the
presence of a vowel. Old English lost *x between vowels and also when
preceded by a liquid and followed by a vowel (e.g. <seolh> 'seal
[Phoca]' vs. pl. <se:olas> from *selxo:s), but not in <-rhl->
(<earhlic> 'cowardly', etc.).
That doesn't count. Two morphemes, i.e. <-rh-> + <-l->. You'd expect
<-x-> to be restored in that case.
All right. Let's take two mutually exclusive statements
1) All <x>'s vanished at the same time
2) <x> vanished in some contexts sooner than others
"Ad hoc pleading" must, as I understand your term, involve assuming
an unusual state of affairs. Now which one is the "usual" state of
affairs? I have argued for 2). Any German village between Hamburg and
Munich in 19th century Germany would have illustrated 2) in the case
of the second German sound shift (ik/ich, maken/machen). Your
own "seal" example is a case of 2). Why do you then claim that 1) is
the usual state of affairs?
>
> Examples of WGmc. erla- are OE eorl 'warrior; ealdorman' (ModE
earl), OSax. erl (glossed 'vir'), and OHG erl- in compound names.
There is nothing to suggest that a Scandinavian import
Nothing linguistic, I assume you mean. But we have the testimony of
Jordanes about the Eruli being driven from Scandinavia.
(actually, attestation in Older Runic strongly suggests that the word
is at least common NWGermanic),
Assuming that there is a NWGermanic, of which Runic is the ancestor?
I think the jury is out on that one. But BTW wouldn't you see a
similar pattern if all the literate "ek erilaz ... " people left the
Runic area at that time?
though as a result of OE/Scandinavian contacts the meaning of OE eorl
(as an official title' was influenced by that of its ON cognate,
<jarl>.
>
> Piotr
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: tgpedersen
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 9:11 AM
> Subject: [tied] Re: A "Germanic" query
>
>
> If the Heruli were driven from their settlements by the Dani it
is
> safe to assume that those settlements were within the North
Germanic
> speaking area. Therefore W. Germanic *erla- (examples?) might be
an
> import.
> /x/ would have been lost in some contexts before others. Are
there
> any examples of Runic -rxl-?
Torsten