From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 20331
Date: 2003-03-25
----- Original Message -----
From: "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 11:26 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Germanic Scythians?
>> Don't get me wrong. *paido: is Germanic (> Goth. páida, OE pa:d, OHG pfeit). The supposed prototype is *baita: (the Greek word <baite:> was believed to be a shepherding term of Thracian origin).
> Related to (Falk & Terp) 'bede' ("let graze" < "let bite") ON 'beita', German 'beizen', Eng 'to bait the horses', I suppose?
That's the Germanic causative (*baitjan-) of the 'bite' verb (*bi:tan-). The corresponding nouns are neuter *baita- (ON beit 'pasture') and feminine *baito: (OE ba:t, ON beita 'food, bait'). But why should a leather coat be called 'food'? And of course the proto-form of *baito: would have been *bHoidah2, with a *-d-.
The Thracian word (if it's really Thracian) is difficult to analyse, first and foremost because the Thracian material is so scarce, but also because of the etymological ambiguities involved. For example, the initial /b/ might reflect pre-Thracian *bH- or *w- (or even *b-).
Piotr