--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>
> > 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
If a way could be found for /r/ > /l/ (analogy from the "wolf"
word?), how about
Norw. 'ro:ve' "tail"
NHG 'Rübe' "horse's tail stem"
Greek 'rhápis' "beet"
OSlav. 'répij' "pole"
Latin ra:pum "root"
Torsten