--- Patrick Ryan <
proto-language@...> wrote:
I think it probably originated in
> an IE language, because
> of its form; had it been borrowed from Egyptian, for
> example, into Latin, it
> would likely have had a form like *naehes or
> *naexus;
*****GK: Ill stick with the "origin dubious"
hypothesis, as will, no doubt, most others. We can
speculate about non-IE substrate elements, but that is
equally dubious.*****
>
> I think it [the term GK]was
> first applied by them to Africans, with whom they
> would have been familiar
> as slaves, primarily, but was applied to an
> associated meaning ('black')
*****GK: I find it quite implausible that a term
applied to Africans in the sense of "lockless" would
afterwards be applied to any "black" or "dark" entity,
if it did not also have the connotation of "black"
from the beginning. And even if it did, I would find
it highly surprising, to say the very least, that such
a standard Latin term for "black" would have derived
from the experience of owning African slaves, rather
than some other ("dubious" (:=)) source, and THEN been
also applied to the colour of some Africans.******
> I do not believe that Africans' being black is
> "more evident" or less
> evident than the observation that they had no
> 'locks' behind their heads;
> nor more important;
****GK: Well it's the "black" connotation that
survived in Latin, not the "lockless" one. Of course,
older peoples weren't familiar with political
correctness of the modern variety.****
>
> Until George or someone else can produce a plausible
> source for /niger/
> other than a luckless suggestion of substrate or
> unknown borrowing source, I
> think the possibility of IE origin with known IE
> elements is worth
> considering.
*****GK: If any combination can be found which
intimates "blackness" or "darkness". I think the
"lockless" approach is a waste of time.*****
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