From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 18902
Date: 2003-02-19
----- Original Message -----
From: <sonno3@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 2:36 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Tolkien and Germanic astronomy
> Puhvel (Comparative Mythology, 1987) suggested that the second element in Aurvandill might mean "stick/twig/staff", and that Aurvandill's toe may be a late Christian cleansing of an original story regarding his penis, with vandill being a euphemism for the male member. Puhvel has Aurvandill meaning "Bog-Wand", and suggests that he was some sort of "wetland fertility figure".
I know, and I don't believe any of that. Connecting "bog wand" or "bog penis" with Venus (or the like) without at least some concrete evidence to strengthen the plausibility of such a connection smacks of folk etymology. It isn't impossible, of course, but then what is? The semantics of the suffix *-ila- (not the weak-stem diminutive *-ilan-) in Germanic should also be taken into account. It frequently forms agent, instrument or result-of-action nouns from verbs (like beadle < *bud-ila- from *beud-an-), hence *wandila- 'wanderer' is plausible (and supported by its attested use as a rivername, 'one that meanders'). Note that Gk. plane:te:s means just that.
Piotr