[tied] Re: I, Hercules [was: A "Germanic" query] IRMIN

--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: tgpedersen
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 10:26 AM
> Subject: [tied] Re: I, Hercules [was: A "Germanic" query] IRMIN
>
>
> > 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?

>
> As the name "Alani" proves, the development of *arya- in Alanic was

different from that in Persian. Besides, the initial vowel is short
in Germanic; it can't represent *e: < *ai (*airiia-).

>

I shouldn't have said Alani I suppose, they are connected to places
further south. But how about this: Alani and other Iranic-speakers
invade Pannonia; from there an r-preserving sub-tribe moves on to
Thüringia? And who knows what *they* did to long vowels?

> > 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 there a shred of independent evidence for such an interpretation?
>

No. I just thought bragging of being a famous guest sounded odd. The
inversion in terms would be similar to that in *gWem- "come, go". A
similar inversion might then have applied in the case of *ermun-

> Is Gothic <ermana-> etc known outside of ethnonyms and personal

names? If not, what else is the translation as "strong, powerful,
great" based on?

>
> It is found as an intensifying prefix in common vocabulary, cf.

OIc. jörmun-gandr 'huge monster' (not 'friendly monster') or jörmun-
grund 'the wide earth'

In other words, in Germanic an un-analysable di-syllabic, the meaning
of which is inferred from context.

> Piotr
>

Torsten