Rag (was: Craciun, Romanian for Christmas)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:

> 29-12-03 22:03, Dan Waniek wrote:
>
> > Piotr,
> >
> > In the wonderful circumnavigation of the original thread, I see

some

> > interesting semantic suggestions not attacked so far.
> >
> > 01. We've missed the Kerc^i Straits (message # 28859).
> >
> > 02. There also is a spectacular bird known in Russia under the

name

> > Krac^un (all details in message # 28885).
> >
> > 03. Finally, I find this wonderful Homeric r(a/kos.
> >
> > What are we to do with all these in the exhaustive Craciun

context,

> > now complete with all sorts of cheese, seasonal transhumance and
> > watra ?
>
> Nothing. Gk. hrakos comes from older *wrakos, I think (and

certainly not

> from *krak)

Pokorny concurs - k-extension of *wer 'tear', root #2168, and cites
Aeolian <brakos>. Any chance of it being related to English _rag_,
from Old Norse ro,gg 'tuft or strip of fur'. I don't know whether
Norwegian and Swedish _ragg_ 'rough hair' tell us anything about
whether an initial /w/ has been lost.

Richard.