Re: [tied] Tiber, Tiber, gurning gright...

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 22623
Date: 2003-06-04

----- Original Message -----
From: "alex" <alxmoeller@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 11:02 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Tiber



> If we do not know what meant Tiberis, what means in this case "Tigris"?

Antonio has offered an interesting analysis of <tiberis>.

As for Tigris, it's a Greek version (see Herodotus) of OPer. tigra- (Av.
tiGri-) 'sharp, pointed; arrow', from PIE (s)teig- (cf. Eng. stick, Gk.
stigma, etc.). The name of the tiger belongs to the same etymon. "The Arrow"
looks like a folk-etymological adaptation of Akkadian Idiqlat (cf. Hebr.
Hiddekel) <-- Sumerian Idigna, the oldest known name of the river. Nothing
to do with the Tiber, as you can see.

Piotr