From: tgpedersen
Message: 13125
Date: 2002-04-09
>an archaic oblique form *Erjamun- developed into *Erjamunaz>Ermunaz,
>
> Could be *Ermunaz a corruption of expected *Erjaman-/Arjaman? Maybe
--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Folk etymology implies a native model: what would that be? Why
should *ermuna- have been reinterpreted as 'great'? And why twist
both the form and the meaning just to force an etymology against
obvious facts? BTW, <ermana-> occurs in Gothic, where it can't
reflect <arjaman->, and even in early West Germanic the syncope you
propose would have been unusual.
>
> Piotr
>
In light of New Persian <e:rma:n>, which developped from <Aryaman>
within an Iranic language, are you certain that Alanian did not have
a similar form?
The Gallehus gold horn has the name Hlewa-gastiz "fame guest". Is it
possible to interpret *gasti-z not as "guest" but "host", ie. a "free
spender" and therefore a good sovereign? Is Gothic <ermana-> etc
known outside of ethnonyms and personal names? If not, what else is
the translation as "strong, powerful, great" based on?
Torsten