Re: [tied] Wolves and foxes

----- Original Message -----
From: Piotr Gasiorowski <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Wolves and foxes



----- Original Message -----
From: "Che" <almogaver69@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Lupus


> Isn't eng. wolf rather related to lat. vulpes "fox"? Then isn't it
actually kind of "wild dog"? And do we have here two developments from the
same root 1. vulpes 2. (w)lupus?

Good ol' *wl.kWos accounts for Germanic *wulfaz quite well, especially as
the corresponding feminine *wl.gWi:z (ON ylgr) < *wl.kW-íh2 is also
attested, and the structure (a thematic masculine) matches the traditional
'wolf' etymon rather than any of the 'fox' words. The labiovelar~labial
variation is found in non-Satem languages only, while *p in the 'fox' word
is found consistently everywhere, Satem or Centum. This fact alone speaks
against conflating the two etyma into a single 'canine' root with variants.
I'd reconstruct PIE *wl.kWos with sporadic metathesis (> *lukWos) and
sporadic labial assimilation (> *wl.pos, like *penkWe > *pempe > Gmc.
*fimf-), the latter _never_ found in the Satem branches.

The 'fox' set is a hard one. It stands to reason that <vulpes> must be
somehow related to Gk. aló:pe:ks, Skt. lopa:s'á- 'jackal', Iranian
*raupasa-, Arm. aLue:s (leaving temporarily aside some enigmatic
Balto-Slavic words that might or might not be related), but it's difficult
to reduce these forms to a common prototype. Syncope (and/or the influence
of the 'wolf' word) may have produced <vulpes> out of something like
*olupe:s, but this is about as far as one can go without getting really
Procrustean on the poor fox.

I think the most economic reconstruction (without assuming taboo distortions
and other unverifiable tricks) would be a compound with the first element of
the shape *lah2u- (with alternative composition forms *l.h2u- and *lh2w-o-):

   *l.h2u-pe:k^-s > Pre-Lat. *olupe:ks > Lat. vulpe:s

(irregular loss of *k e.g. through misanalysis of vulpe:c-ula -->
vulpe:-cula);

   *lah2u-pe:k^-s > IIr. *raupa(:)C-a- (thematised);

   *l.h2w-o-pe:k^-s > Pre-Gk. *alawope:ks > Gk. alo:pe:k-s .

The second element (*pek^-) might have something to do with Slavic *pIsU
'dog', and the first (*lah2u-) ..... any ideas?

Piotr