--- Piotr Gasiorowski <
gpiotr@...> wrote:
> "Karpaty" in the modern Slavic languages is a
> relatively recent borrowing
> (not affected by metathesis, which would have given
> *koropat-, *kropat- or
> *krapat-, depending on the language, in a word
> dating back to Proto-Slavic).
*****GK: I'm still pondering the reason for this late
adoption. At the moment, my hypothesis is that (on the
analogy of the 12th c. designation "Ugrian" mountains)
the Early Slavs may have called the Carpathians
"Caucasiiskiia" mountains after the ruling group
thereof at the time of initial contact. Which brings
us to the Dacian Caucoenses and their Caucaland.
Perhaps the Carpathian barrows culture of the 2nd-5th
cs. But this is still quite speculative.****
> I'm sure it was taken from literary sources, since
> the mountains were known
> as "Karpate:s oros" to Ptolemy and to later
> geographers. Old Norse
> <harfa�a-fj�ll>, however, demonstrates that the name
> existed already in
> Proto-Germanic times (a couple of centuries BC or
> so).
******GK: The kindergarten linguist GK asks: because
the Old Norse shows the operation of Grimm's law?*****
Afterthought: Do you have any suggestions about the
etymology of the Greek "Karpathos" (the island
mentioned by George S.)?
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