The shared connotation of trade is what might connect them all (except for
the marsupials!), and also "emporos" which my dictionary gives as the Old
Greek word for "merchant" - and which exhibits your *(m)brs stage of the
m-b/p shift. I don't know the origin(s) of Old Greek "byrsa" or "emporos",
and would be
grateful to learn what they were. I have to say that my dictionary does not
give much help in this matter: it doesn't speculate on the origin of either
word. My simple mind suggests that compatible words in Germanic and Greek
indicate an origin in the common parent-language, but there might need to be
Slavic cognates too, for that to hold water. Would somebody like to give me
a helping hand there? Many thanks.
Gordon
>The meaning of byrsa is "purse, leather, bag, hide",not market.
I think marsipos (cf.Marsupial) can be cognate, if we assume a non-Greek
source *(m)brs-
I have doubts if Mercurius and merx are truly connected or just a
folk-etymology. There was attempts to explain Mercurius <Melcurius <
Phoenician Melqart > Greek Melikerte:s
Joao SL
>>I read once - somewhere - that the Marketplace of Carthage was called
"byrsa" - but that of course may have been a Greek transliteration or
perhaps simply a translation. Is it possible that the word was taken into
Greek from there? Cognates "market", "merchant" and the god Mercury, I
have
long supposed. Would one of the Slavic-language speakers be kind enough
to
tell me: do Slavic cognates carry the m- or the b/p- beginning? Thank
you.
>> Gordon