Re: [tied] Re: *ekwos and esel?

In theory at least, it could be a derivative of PIE *gow-r/-n- 'coat of hair, its colour', with the meaning narrowed down to 'yellowish ~ reddish ~ whitish' in Indo-Aryan. Iranian has *gauna- 'coat of hair, colour' (e.g. Av. -gaona- [in compounds], Sogd. Gwn; borrowed into Armenian as <goyn>). The derivative *gaunaka- 'sheepskin coat(?)' (an extremely productive Indo-Iranian formation) is indirectly attested as a loan in non-Iranian languages (Akkadian gunakku, Gk. gaunake:s, kaunake:s 'Persian-style cloak'; possibly even Slavic *guna ~ *gunja, from late Middle Iranian).

I don't know if Indo-Aryan gaura- 'gaur, _Bos gaurus_' is related to the colour word or just fortuitously homonymous (the gaur is blackish-brown, except for the lower parts of the legs). Some etymological dictionaries have it under *gWou- with other 'cattle' words (the sort of etymology that appears to be too simple to be true, though the name of the domesticated variety, the gayal, Skt. gavaya-, is certainly derived from {gau-}). Witzel suggests that IIr. *ga[:]ura- (including the colour, wild ass and IA gaur meanings) is the source of some Nakh 'horse' words (Chechen gowr, Ingush gawr). I'm not sure what to think of it.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: tarasovass

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2002 8:14 PM

Subject: [tied] Re: *ekwos and esel?

--- In cybalist@......, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@......> wrote: > All I have found is Skt. gaura-kHara- for the Indian variety of _Equus hemionus_ (the khur), which corresponds exactly to <gor-xar> (both < *ga:ura-kHara-). The first element appears to be a colour term (Skt. gaura- 'yellowish, reddish; white, shining'), which seems to fit the hemiones (khurs, kulans and onagers), with their conspicuously white or buff underparts. > Does this *ga:ura- have a plausible PIE etymology or we deal with a wanderwort here? Russian has <kau'ryj> 'light chestnut (of a horse)', which, along with Middle Russian <kuryj>, <kovur> 'id.' and dialectal <kau'rit's'a> 'give a dark look', is explained by Vasmer as a borrowing from North Turkic <kovur> 'chestnut (of a horse)'. Stryjkowski in his _Kronika..._ (1582) mentions <Chaurirari> -- a Lithuanian horse deity ('Chaurirari, kon'ski bo'g; temu pietuchy rosl/e, cerstwe, ro'z.nej fabry ofiarowali, aby sie, tez. konie takie mnoz.yl/y...') -- a word with uncertain etymology: a connection with Lith. dial. <ka'uras> 'mould', also with Slavic *kuriti 'burn', ON <hyrr>, Arm. <krak> 'fire', Gothic <ha'uri> 'coal' has been proposed. Interestingly enough, a magic horse is sometimes called <si'vka- bu'rka, ve's^c^ij kau'rka> (lit. 'Grey-browny, soothsaying Chestnutty') in Russian folklore.