Re: [tied] frog

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "João Simões Lopes Filho"
<jodan99@...> wrote:
> The word is "bruscus" in dialectal Latin, that is analyzed as
**gWrodH-sko-,
> akin to batrakhos (<*brathakos < *gWRdH-nko-) and German krote.
> Some scholars link bruscus to Spanish bruja/Portuguese

bruxa "witch".

Intriguing idea. It does look more likely than Baroja's nominee mBRSH, (from a Moorish word for datura) as the source of bruja/bruxa.  Folkloric connections of frogs to witches are quite common in Europe, but seem especially prominent in witch trial accounts from northern Spain/southern France. Some of these are however Basque-speaking cultures, but maybe they picked up the connection from Romance-speaking neighbors.

Max