Juleps and roses (was Re: vulgar Latin?)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...>
wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Abdullah Konushevci"
> <a_konushevci@...> wrote:
>
> > I hope that You will agree that in Indo-Iranic branch, the PIE
> > root for water was *ab- (cf. abdes, Turkish form of Persian
> > compound < ab 'water' and dast 'hand', hoshab < Pers. hosh 'good'
> > and ab 'water', gülab < Pers. gül 'rose' and ab 'water'.
>
> > Konushevci
> ********
> I've always been puzzled by Pers. gül 'rose' and since
> Abdullah mentions it, I'll ask help from Cybalist. Watkins in the
> American Heritage Dictionary gives the well-known
> etymology of "julep" Eng. < Old Fr. <Med. Latin < Arabic <
> Persian 'gulab' rosewater : 'gul'
> rose (< Middle Pers. 'varda')+ 'ab' water.
> It's that last parenthesis that gets me. 'Varda' is clearly
> comparable to Gk. 'wrodos', Hebrew 'yared', etc. But how
> did 'varda' transform to 'gul' between Middle and post-Middle
> Persian?
> Dan

************
It is etymologically correct to drink a julep while watching the Run
for the Roses. The English word rose comes from Latin and Old French.
Latin rosa may be an Etruscan form of Greek Rhodia, "Rhodian,
originating from Rhodes." The Attic Greek word for rose is rhodon,
and in Sappho's Aeolic dialect of Greek it is wrodon. In Avestan, the
language of the Persian prophet Zoroaster, "rose" is varda and in
Armenian vard, words both related to the Aeolic form. The Modern
Persian word for "rose" is gul (which, believe it or not, is
descended from a form quite similar to varda through a series of
regular sound changes); and gul-b is "rose-water." Gulb is also a
drink made of water and honey or syrup. The name of this Persian
treat was borrowed into Arabic as julb and then, through Spanish and
French, became julep in English, the ambrosia for sipping on Derby
Day.(See: http://www.bartleby.com/61/55/R0305500.html)