[tied] Re: 'Dog' revisited

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> > >
> > > True. That slipped by me. As far as I can see your theory

works,

> > > given one small extra assumption: that the dogs who strayed to
> the
> > > neighbors had the name 'kwon' engraved on its collar, so that

the

> > > neighbors didn't start calling it something irrelevant.
> >
> >
> > Hi Torsten- and if you make the further assumption that Piotr and
> all
> > his linguistic colleagues, who say that the supposed commonality

re

> > the term for dogs is illusory, are correct, then it works

fine. :-)

> >
>
> If I knew what "the supposed commonality re the term for dogs" was
> and what it meant for that entity to be illusory, I might even

agree.

Sorry for the convoluted wording Torsten. The language center of my
brain was probably asleep when I wrote that. What I meant to say was
that if one does not accept the hypothesis that there exist related
terms for canines in many different language families, then it
appears you would not see a problem with my hypotheis re the spread
of dogs. (i.e. there would be no need for that tag engraved
with "kwon")

> > However, whether any group deserves the description "the traders"
> at
> > that time has not been established.
> >
> Do you know when that title will be officially awarded?

No I don't- and my point was that you should not take it upon
yourself to award the title without evidence to justify it.

> > > Since the perceived common root for a canine term in many
> > different
> > > > language groups is probably illusory anyhow,
> > >
> > > I don't think so. Here are Orël & Stolbova's "dog"-words for
> > Hamito-
> > > Semitic:
> > >
> > > HSED 917: *ger- "dog, cub"
> > > HSED 1425: *kan- "dog"
> > > HSED 1434: *ka[ya]r- "dog"
> > > HSED 1498: *kun- "dog"
> > > HSED 1511: *küHen- "dog"
> > > HSED 1521: *kV(w|y)Vl- "dog, wolf"
> > >
> > > This looks like a several times borrowed word.
> >
> > If so, it would only show a borrowing (or common ancestry)

between

> > PAA and PIE, not a chain stretching across Eurasia.
> >
> PFU *küjna (by memory). I'll go check.

If the PAA, PIE and PFU words do all have a common origin wouldn't
the Nostratic hypothesis be a simpler explanation than a hypothesis
of long distance ocean travel from SE Asia to the PFU homeland?

Ned