Re: [tied] greek basyleus

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 16460
Date: 2002-10-20

One fundamental objection is that the assumption of a Getic prototype explains "obscurum per obscurius", and thus effectively fails to explain anything. Which particular known Getic word could have been the source? The extra difficulty is that we have Myc. qa-si-re-u- (*gWasileus) about a thousand years before the Getae are first mentioned. How would Russu, or anyone else, have known what Proto-Getic was like so early if Getic itself is known only from a handful of words?
 
As for the etymology of *gWasileus, it's customary to regard it as a "Pelasgian" loan merely because no IE etymology appears convincing enough. But note Peter's comment, earlier today, about <tHálatta/tHálassa>, which _might_ be IE as regards its structure if only some plausible cognates could be suggested. The suffix <-eús> (indicating agency or instrumentality, among other things) is quite common in Mycenaean: <ka-ke-u> (*kHalkeus) 'coppersmith', <ke-ra-me-u> (*kerameus) 'potter', <i-je-re-u> (*hiereus) 'priest', etc. *gWasileus would fit into this patter if we only knew how to interpret **gWasilo- (< **gWatilo-?) in Greek or non-Greek terms.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: alexmoeller@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 12:12 AM
Subject: [tied] greek basyleus

II Russu in his book "ethnogenesis of the romanians" sustain
that the greeks "imported" some words from getae. Such words
should be:
ambon, basileus, bascanos, brabeus.

Are there contrary evidences at least for "basileus"?





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