From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 19248
Date: 2003-02-25
----- Original Message -----
From: "João Simões Lopes Filho" <jodan99@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 2:50 PM
Subject: [tied] kos, kossyphos, etymology, and another birds
> 1) Is there any link between Czech kos "ouzel, merle", Greek kotyphos/kos[s]yphos "ouzel" and Greek ksouthos "species of bird".
> Francisco R. Adrados states kos (kosU) < *kopsos, but give no other cognate to confirm this statement.
Aristophanes ("Birds") has the variant <kopsikHos>. This, and Slavic *kosU made Pokorny reconstruct *k(^)opsos as the IE 'blackbird' word and assumes dissimilation: *kops-upHos > kossupHos. Hardly a strong etymology, since we have no guarantee that the -ps- of <kopsikHos> is more "original" than what we find in the other Greek variants of the word. The <Amsel> ~ <ouzel> ~ <merula> ~ <mwyalch> etymon, while not without its problems, is a better candidate for a (West IE) 'blackbird' term.
> 2) Any link between Latin sitta "Sitta europaea" and Greek aisakos "species of bird"? I tried aisakos < *a-sity-akos.
Impossible to tell. More evidence would be needed to establish a connection.
> 3) And *kig^H ? Greek kikhlos , Polish czyz, Russian c^iz^, Czech c^iz^ik.
The Greek word looks like a reduplication affected by Grassmann's Law. Slavic <i> is historically long (< *i: or *ei, or *i lengthened before an unaspirated voiced stop). Similar German, Lithuanian and Old Prussian words are regional loans (all ultimately from Slavic, it seems), not cognates. The word looks onomatopoeic, and for want of good external cognates is not reconstructible beyond Slavic.
Piotr