carus, whore

On a bracteate (Fyn C-1) is the rune text <aeraalius horaz>, ie (M.)
Aurelius Carus, Roman Emperor in 282. Strange that the writer
translated <carus>, also 'dear', with <horaz> 'adulterer' (ON <hórr>,
Goth. hórs 'adulterer', related to Engl. <whore> < PGmc <ho:ro:n>).
The question is whether the writer knew this connection, and this is
a slanderous pun (after all, the difference is no greater than that
between Low and High German, and those two languages now function as
sociolects). Note that Germanic also has the unshifted form (MDutch
<caer>, <care>, supposedly a loan from OFr. <ker> (from Latin
<carus>) > Fr. <cher>; but one might instead follow Kuhn's idea and
accept this as a Nordwestblock loan in Germanic (<car> is Celtic
too). Then we would have the following interesting situation in early
Germanic: shifted <hor-> meaning 'adulterer', unshifted <ker->
meaning 'dear', cf Icelandic <kærasta> 'girlfriend, betrothed',
<kærasti> 'boyfriend, betrothed', consistent with Kuhn's view of
Nordwestblock loans being used mainly in the lower social register of
Germanic, as opposed to 'native Germanic' words. An unpleasant
insight into early Germanic sociology.


Torsten