[tied] Re: Albanian Names

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> 02-11-03 13:37, m_iacomi wrote:
> [...]
>> I assume you had some criteria to emphatically call these names
>> "Daco-Thracian" (especially when speaking about "caution"), but
>> there is little indication about which are those criteria. Out of
>> derivatives of "(i) bardhë" `white` (having its' correspondent in
> > Romanian "bardz(u)" `id.`) [...]
>
> Since several webpage authors deliberately spell "King Bardhyl(us)"
> à l'albanaise (and "explain" it romantically as 'White Star' or the
> like), I'd like to remind the list that the historical Bardu:lis
> [sic!] ruled Illyria, and his name could be considered
> "Daco-Thracian" only if it could be shown that Dacian, Thracian
> and Illyrian were the same damn thing.

That's precisely why I didn't listed other names which could be
supposed from other Balkanic languages but Dacian. BTW, I had in
mind "bardha" and "bardhi" as derivatives, for the others looking
like "Bardhyl..." I have no comment at this point.

> No ancient author provides a gloss for the name, so a connection
> with Alb. bardhë is motivated primarily by wishful thinking.
> Bardu:lis could be etymologised in other ways, more in accordance
> with the IE onomastic tendencies, e.g. as 'having a (small) beard'
> from *bHardH- (cf. Barbula as a Latin cognomen).

It sounds at least plausible, remaining still an hypothesis without
any factual support. A "romantic" name as "White Something" could
have been justified _if_ the king had a white tress, cataract, or
any other white-looking physical sign. As said, the case is rather
unclear since there is no decisive evidence.

Regards,
Marius Iacomi