Re: [tied] Sanskrit to German ?

On 05-03-17 16:09, Daniel J. Milton wrote:

> I may be wandering off, misled by accidental similarity of
> sounds, but there is the German town Fulda on the (presumably earlier
> named) Fulda River. This seems to match the words under discussion,
> but also recalls the name Fuldaha used in 872 for the Bohemian Vltava
> -- Moldau and presumably an early variant thereof. I see Vltava
> referred to Germanic Wilth-ahwa "wild water". I would have guessed
> such a large river might preserve an Althydrodynamik name.
> Any comments?
> Dan Milton

The early versions of the hydronym Fulda include Fuldaha and Uultaha.
The <-aha> part is of course the Germanic term for 'water/river'. The
initial element _could_ be *fuld- < *pl.th2(ú)- in the sense 'broad,
wide'. The Slavic river name *pUlty/*pUltUv- (Ukr. Poltva, POol.
Pel/tew) is regarded by some as borrowed from Gothic (hypothetical *fulþo:).

Vltava has also been known as Moltava (Moldau), Waldaha, Fuldaha etc.,
with a multitude of minor variants. Without checking the attestation
and the chronology of these names I'm unable to offer even an educated
guess as to the etymology. Perhaps our Czech friends know something
about it.

Piotr