--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao" <josimo70@...> wrote:
> Is there common origin bewteen ethnomymic suffixes of Italic Osci
(<*Opsko-) and Germanic Cherusci (Heruskaz). Something like *-kos,
PIE "ethnomymic suffix"? Are there analogous suffixes in another IE
languages?
Are we sure that /*Ops-ko/ and /*Xeruska-/ < /*Kerusko-/ are formed
from IE roots? Etymological explanations are very poor in the case of
Osci: the name originally didn't belong to Samnites, but to a
submitted people of Campania, of uncertain origin; a variant Opici
was also used. Cherusci may be from an IE root for "stag", "deer",
still preserved in the learned English word "hart". But sigmatic
suffix is quite strange.
This *-ko- suffix is found also in Aurunci < *Ausonici and in Volsci,
but once again the roots are of uncertain origin.
Sincerely
Marco