--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> I'm far from sure how to etymologise *dUne^strU and *dUne^prU,
> though the identification of the first element with a Proto-Ossetic
> reflex of Iranian *da:nu- looks correct to me. A cognate of Av.
ae:s^a-
> and Skt. is.irá- 'strong, active' could be lurking in the name
of the
> Dniester. For the Dnieper, there's also Golab's suggestion that it
might
> contain Iranian *aipi- < *api- < *h1epi- 'upon, above', with a
secondary
> comparative ending *-ra- < *-(e)ro-. It's as speculative as the
> alternative proposals, but at least accounts for the Slavic *e^ and
make
> sense if the name was originally applied to the upper course of the
> river (contrasted with the Borysthenes).
In Classical Greek, Dnepr was called, as we all know Borysthenes, but
lateron the form Danapris came into use (Pseudo-Arrian, Periplus
§58 Borusqe/nhn potamo\n nausi/poron, to\n nu=n Da/naprin lego/menon;
cf. also §§ 60, 91). This points to a Scythian (or Sarmatian or
Alanic) *Dan-apra-.
Abaev explains the second part of the word as a derivation from
Iranian *a:p- "water", and he will find the same derivation in
Ossetic arf "deep, depth" (Istoriko-etimologic^eskij slovar'
osetinskogo jazyka, vol. 1, 63). The same word may be the first part
of the Scythian mythical name Arpoxais, i.e. "water-king" (the
ancestor of the two common tribes, cf. A. Ivantchik, Une légende sur
l'origine des Scythes, REG 112 (1999) 141-192, G. Hinge, Scythian and
Spartan Analogies, in: The Cauldron of Ariantas, Aarhus 2003, 55-74).
Is it possible for Iranian *a: to turn up as Slavonic *e:? We have
the exact same problem with Dnestr, which is written Danastris in the
late Greek texts (= classical Tyras).