tgpedersen wrote:
>> Why a Iranian loan? What speak for a Iranian source?
>
> Russsian put' "road", Latin pont- "bridge", Iranian I-forgot-what
> have p in Anlaut which would > f in Germanic. Thus it might be a loan
> and Iranian is a candidate
>
> Torsten
Hmmm.. no no:-))
Now you have to think about what is a path? In my opinion a path is a
way which become marked trough the fact someone use to walk trough so,
there is no grass anymore. In teh ancient times there have been nor
markers known as usual and I doubt that all 2 miles someone put a stone
for marking the path. For a path ( path is not a road, is something thin
comparative with a road) it should be the mark just itself. And this is
clear since if you use the same way for going/coming then the grass
won't grow anymore there and the "path" will get marked. If this could
be accepted, then the "path" should be seen in connection with "to ram,
to stamp, to tamp". In this case not latin "pont-" but Latin "bat-"
should be a better candidate. The b/p alternance her should be explained
easy I guess.
Alex