Harii/Hirri into (H)eruli?

From: george knysh
Message: 17164
Date: 2002-12-13

Someone has asked on another list whether it is
possible that Pliny's Hirri and Tacitus' Harii could
have developed into the groups later known as Heruli
or Eruli. I have strong doubts about this on
historical and archaeological grounds, but the
discussion has taken a linguistic twist and I
mentioned that I would consult the excellent linguists
on Cybalist on the issue. The argument is that
Harii/Hirri could be derived from the same root as the
one which gave Erila, the H being a Graeco-Roman
superfluity. It is further argued that Erila could be
interpreted as "little Eri", and that Greeks changed
the "i" to a "u" whence the historically recorded
name. Does this make any sense?

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com