>
>
> According to recent genetic research (Science, Mar 15)
Science, Mar 11. Sorry
>pigs of
> Europe and Turkey/Iran belong to two different branches of Sus
> scrofa, who spread into the world from island SEAsia since the
last
> ice age, leaving three related pig species behind. There's good
> reason to suspect this spread was people-mediated, cf Proto-
> Austronesian *beRek "pig"; thus the pig was brought separately and
> independently by the same people to the Middle East and Europe.
From the same article (Greger Larson et al.: Worldwide
Phylogeography of Wild Boar Reveals Multiple Centers of Pig
Domestication; not that I agree with the conclusion implied in the
title):
"... and phylogenetic analyses were performed using Bayesian Monte
Carlo-Markov chain (MCMC) and median-joining networks. The consensus
tree shows that the basal lineage of Sus Scrofa occur in western
island Southest Asia (ISEA). An initial dispersal from this area
into the Indian subcontinent was followed by subsequent radiations
into East Asia and a final, progressive spread across Eurasia into
Western Europe. "
That's odd, that exactly how I imagined the loanwords from
Austronesian to have spread.
Since some relate *bhag- "distibute; eat" to *bhag- "beech; oak",
asumming the latter to have been named from its role as pig feed, I
was wondering if English 'pig' might belong here too. How is your
monograph on pigs coming along, Piotr?
Torsten