Re: [tied] Bakkhos etymology

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

>
> Dionysus is his son in this function. One of the major sub-aspects
> is as god of wine. He is associated with the thyrsus, the pine-
> cone tipped staff. Rosin come from the pine. And retsina is what
> the Greeks drink. His divine madness is simply that he is a mean
> drunk (berserker) on furlough from the wars. In early vase-
> paintings, horse-men (ass-men) are Dionysus' companions. I believe
> his name means Divine Ass (Di-onus-os)

If the Greek word 'onos' is what's intended here with 'onus',
then the stem is actually 'on-'. What sort of suffix is '-us-'?

> from the fact that ass mare's milk was his earliest intoxicant
> (kumiss) in the Caucasus.

Is that so? I've never heard of a koumiss made from jenny's
milk before, only mare's milk. Though, was koumiss of any sort
known in the Caucasus before the arrival there of Altaic and
Iranian peoples from the steppes? It was my understanding that
the Caucasus has a very long history of viniculture, perhaps
even the longest.

David