Boar/Elephant

----- Original Message -----

From: Brian M. Scott

To: mkelkar2003

Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 9:59 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] Boar/Elephant

 

> The words for elephant, tiger, rice do have Indo-European
> etymologies (Elst 2000).

> http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.com/articles/aid/urheimat.html

The reference does not support the claim.  It notes only a
couple of possible IE 'elephant' words.

[...]

Brian

***

Patrick:

 

Firstly, I would like to support Brian's assertion above. I, also, saw no information about "tiger/rice" words having "Indo-European etymologies" in Elst (2000) as Mr. Kelkar erroneously stated above; frankly, I resent having to read the essay in its entirety to have to confirm a lapse of memory.

 

However, on the bright side, Elst (2000) seems, in my opinion, to be a brilliant and unbiased survey of competing theories concerning the location of the PIE homeland — valuable as a platform for all future investigations. It should be noted that Elst proposes _no_ solution to the problem as definitive.

 

I am wondering if anyone on the list would have any interest in reopening the boar/elephant question for a few additional thoughts.

 

Let me begin by saying that I believe determination of the location of the PIE homeland by fauna nomenclature comparison is probably a doomed enterprise, nice as it would have been.

 

And secondly, though they contain one common building block, I believe Old Indian ibhá-H, 'elephant', and Germanic *(?)ebura-, 'boar', are _not_ formally related.

 

I believe the element they have in common is Nostratic *?i, 'tooth'. The Sumerian sign for 'tooth' is presently read zu-2 but also reads i-5. In its Old Indian attestation here, it represents PIE *?e-y-, 'tooth-like' = 'tusk'.

 

The third element in Old Indian ibhá-H is simply Nostratic *p?fi, 'foot/track', a frequent formant of animal names.

 

The second element of *(?)ebura is Germanic *bur-, 'bore'; PIE *bher-.

 

Here, we have the animal beloved of truffle-growers.

 

***


 
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