Re: [tied] Re: Accepted cognates of Arya?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Gwinn" <sonno3@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Accepted cognates of Arya?


> Piotr, what does OHG/OE alan translate as?
> I have been trying to figure out for the longest time if
the personal name
> Alan (very popular in Brittany & France beginning in the
Dark Ages) might
> have a Germanic or Celtic etymology, as opposed to the
usual supposition
> that it was borrowed from the ethnic name Alani.

<alan> means 'nourish, increase' (same as Lat. alo; this
form is the infinitive of a strong verb; the root is <al->,
and the pret. is <o:l>). It would hardly surprise me if the
name Alan proved to be "polyphyletic", representing the
convergent development of several similar but originally
different names of various origin. The expected (but
accidentally unattested) p.p. of OE <alan> is *alen <
*alana- 'grown (up)'.

Piotr