George Knysh wrote:
...
> *****GK: I have a Greek possibility in my notes:
> KHEIMEPIOC, which means "wintery", and supposedly
> point to the inclement weather on the Northern shores
> of the Pontus (for Greeks).
...
AND
Cort Williams wrote:
...
> BTW A definition Chimera
>
> chimera or chimaera \ki'mira, -me- also ka\ n -s[L chimaera, fr. Gk
> chimaira chimera, she-goat; akin to ON gymbr yearling ewe, L bimus
> two years (winter) old, hiems winter - more at HIBERNATE]
...
I apologize in advance for my naive linguistic considerations:
If I'm not mistaken the root of this word is in all probability a part of
the IE heritage (not a loan from a non-IE source).
Original meaning of this word seems to be 'winter' (Indian Himalayas and
Russian zima are cognates of it).
What is the PIE form of it?
Secondary meaning of this root can be 'a goat or a sheep 1 year old' , i.e.
young animals which survived a winter. The next step in the semantic
development in Greek - she-goat irrespective of age.
Other secondary meanings can be 'snow' and 'north'.
What should be the East Iranian form of the root we discuss?
Can not original meaning of Cimmerians be "Northern [tribe]"?
As George informed us the archeological evidences suggest that they came
from Southern Siberia, i.e. they were placed to the North from the territory
of other Iranian tribes indeed.
Alexander