--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 09:17:40 +0000, P&G <petegray@...> wrote:
>
> >>what the
> >> hell is *de:?!
> >
> >It is not clear. A different suggestion is that it is for Demo-
meter,
> >nothing to do with earth at all. There is no independent evidence
for da:
> >meaning "earth" in Doric or elsewhere.
>
> From the Perseus site:
>
> Liddell-Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon:
>
> da , expld. by the Sch.A.Ag.1072, EM60.8 as Dor. for ga, gê, in
Trag.
> (lyr.) pheu da, E.Ph.1296, Ar.Lys.198; oioi da pheu A.Eu.874 ;
aleu' a da
> Id.Pr.567 ; ototototoi popoi da Id.Ag.1072 ; ou dan no by earth,
Theoc.4.17
> (v.l. gan):--prob. an exclamation of horror.
>
> Liddell-Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon:
> da, explained by the Scholl. as Dor. for gê, in the phrases da
pheu, pheu
> da Aesch., Eur.; ou dan no by earth, Theocr. But it is prob. that
da or Da
> is a doric voc. of Dan Zan (i. e. Zên Zeus), and Dan acc. = Zên (i.
e.
> Zêna).
>
> There is also Homeric da-pedon "level floor". Merry/Riddell/Monro,
> Commentary on the Odyssey:
>
> The floor on which the sports were taking place was artificially
levelled
> (tuktôi). Some refer da in dapedon to gê, cp. aleu ô da, but it
seems
> better to refer it with Curtius (548) to dia in the sense
of `thoroughly.'
> Compare daphoinos, daskios, zatrephês. Then dapedon will mean `a
very solid
> floor.'
>
>
Falk & Torp
"
<toft> or <tofte>
(danish = plot at a building, field near the farm outside the village
community, plot for the house), Sw.dial. <toft>, Norw.dial. <tuft>,
<toft> "plot for a house", ON <topt>, <tupt> id. (loaned to AS
<toft> "plot"). Word is identical to <tomt>, qv.
<tomt>, Sw. <tomt>, O.Sw. <tompt> next to <toft>, with which the word
is probably identical; see <toft>. Germ. basic form *tumftô = IE *dm.p
(e)dâ, cf Greek <dápedoon> "floor, plot" from *dm.-pedo-, Lith
dimstis "farmyard, farm" from dm.pdti-. The word is composed of *dm.-
weakest [zero] grade of *dem "house, building" (cf. <timber>) and
*pedo- "plot, yard". The real meaning of <tomt> is thus <house plot>.
A completely different word is the verbal noun High German
<zunft> "guild" belonging to Germanic *teman "fit". Further
<tomte> "house gnome" [nisse] also <tufte>, <tomtegubbe>, <tuftekarl>
(<tunkarl>), Sw <tomte>, <tomtegubbe>
"
But why not *dm-pot- "master of the plot (or house)" for the <tomte>,
who is explained in legends as the soul of one of the previous owners
(corresponding to Latin Lares).
I still think all the IE *dem-, *dom- words belong together. A plot,
before it could built on had to be emptied (ON <tom-> "empty") of the
foreign spirits living on it. If I could find a way to connect it to
*tom- "cut up, divide" I'd do that, but then I'd have to claim that
the root was a loan into IE (which I believe anyway:
http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Adm.html
)
Torsten