Re: [tied] Re: kinokefalos

From: alex
Message: 27403
Date: 2003-11-18

Richard Wordingham wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex" <alxmoeller@...> wrote:
>> since we are people here from a lot of countries I should like to
> ask
>> here which are the denominations for Greek "kinokefalos" in other
>> languages. Are there such mithological beings in the popular
> mithology
>> of other folks?
>
> Hmm. Liddell and Scott gives Greek _kunokephalos_ as being 'dog-
> headed ape'. I presume that means 'baboon'.
>
> The nearest I can thing of from England is the werewolf, but that is
> not the same thing at all.
>
> Richard.


DEX gives as point of comparation the Greek word "kinokefalos". In fact
I am asking because this monster is explicitely mentioned as being a ..
special mythological Romanian monster.
The name of it is "cãpcãun" which means "head of dog" or kind of . it
appears to be a simple compound of "head " (cap) and "dog" (cãun).
The problem I have is the last part, this "-cãun". The name for the dog
is usualy "câne/câine" in Rom" < Lat. "canis";
I cannot explain phoneticaly the change canis, câne, câine > cãun and
even if the PIE root seems to be very attractive for deriving this
"cãun" from "k^uon, k^un" I still hesitate to do this.
I hesitate because of Alb. "qen", Thracian "kan-", Latin "can-"; I don't
seen in any of these any "u" these 3 languages.

Alex