Re: [tied] Latin mu:stela (what do you think?)

----- Original Message -----
From: Joao S. Lopes
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Latin mu:stela (what do you think?)


> How about mu:ste:la < *stoid- or *staida-, linked to CG staita- "stoat"
> and Greek iktis, ktis (< *kstid-) ?

> Joao SL

First of all, you are welcome with the semantic principle! I mean that the
form of a word can be really deceitful, and that is why I believe that e.g.
Engl. fox is a cognate of Latin vulpes and Greek alo:pek-.

The etymology of Middle English stO:te < OE *sta:t < *staita is not known.
The Greek word is sometimes linked to ikteros 'jaundice' and then *ik-
'yellow, green' (also on the base of ikmaléon = khlo:rón, hygrón). Others
say that the word has no etymology, so I believe that your proposal should
be taken into consideration. We have some examples for Latin l < d (like in
ma:lus < *ma:dus < *mazdos, cf. Eng. mast with the same meaning), perhaps in
words from other dialects (Sabine?). Then, Lat. mu:ste:la may come from
*mu:ste:da, but...

> > Joao:
> > > Proto-IE *mu:s-tel
> > > Osset mystula¨g "weasel"
> > > Slavic mi:stlI, mi:stlU (this i: is a barred long
> > > "i", perhaps means y)
> > > Latin mu:ste:la

... but what with the Ossetian word? In Slavic (you're right, the barred i:
is for y of course, which is in accordance with IPA notation) we find
another mystery here. The given forms are reconstructions and are asterisked
in the source: in fact only the instrumental form <mysliju> is attested (<
*myslIjQ). The *-t- is reconstructed because of the sound change *tl > l,
known from East and South Slavic. But the Russian Pskov dialect provide us
with another form which may belong here: <mys'> 'squirrel'. Potebnja
connects this with <mys^'> 'mouse' but the change s^ > s and the semantic
shift is little probable (unfortunately, I have no information about 'mouse'
in the Pskov dialect). If this form were related to Latin mu:ste:la, we
should reconstruct *mu:k^i- or *mu:sk^i- here (because *mu:si- should yield
*mu:xi- > *mu:s^i- > *mys^I-). Of course the irregular change mysl' > mys'
should also be considered.

The Gmc. form is not clear (OE weosule, German Wiesel < *wisulo:) and is
linked to IE *weis- 'to flow out'. But taking into consideration what was
happening with the IE word for 'fox', I would really not be surprised if
Gmc. *wisulo:, Lat. mu:ste:la and Ossetian mystuläg were related.


Grzegorz J.





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