--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Gordon Barlow" <barlow@...> wrote:
> I sensed some irritation in Brian's posting (below), and he will
sense some
> in this of mine.
And you will very likely sense some in this one, Gordon.
...................
> The implicit proposal that the practices of either 17th-Century
North
> America (Ned) or 9th-Century North Italy (Brian) indicate the naming
> patterns of the earliest Indo-European-speakers is absurd.
There was no such proposal implied- what it was was an explicit
reponse to the quite explicit misleading statement you put forth, i.e.
"The origins of personal names is a field not well served by
etymologists, professional or amateur. The vast majority of surnames-
researchers confine themselves to dredging up homonyms, and (or
therefore) their research produces little more than basic folk-
etymology. ... and surname Baker means an ancestor was a baker, and so
on and on, all announced with a certainty that is just plain
irritating."
Regardless what your implicit interests might be, if you choose to
use demonstrably false statements or generalizations to illustrate
your points be prepared for criticism of them. It is rather a weak
defense to say that the criticism is absurd because it is only
dealing with post-PIE times, when your own example itself was dealing
with post-PIE times.
Ned Smith