Re: [tied] Wolf, varg

tgpedersen wrote:

>
> Kurdish 'varg' "wolf" (and similarly in many other Iranian languages)
> ONorse 'vargr' "wolf"
>
> The word is regularly in Kurdish from PIE *wl.kWós "wolf", but not in
> ON.

Chance agreement. The ON word has relatives within Germanic, including
English <worry>, whose old meaning was 'strangle' (OE a:-wyrgan <
*wurg-jan-). It still has the meaning of 'grasp with the teeth and shake
or tug' when we speak of a dog worrying a bone. The wolf was a *wargaz
('strangler').

Piotr