Re: Permian

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> 3 Scandinavian origin, cognate with Germanic *berm-, *barm- (English
> brim) "border, shore"

The original meaning doesn't seem to have had any watery connections.
The Gmc. prototype is something like *barma-, *barmja- (with
metathetic by-forms) 'margin, border, fringe, ledge'. It is not
related to OE brim 'surf, sea', which is connected with <bremman> and
OHG breman 'roar, rage', cf. Lat. fremo: and perhaps Skt. bHrama-
'whirling flame, whirlpool' (the root is *bHrem-).

> Of course when I find a word with *b/p-r- in it which means "one
> side of waterway" (Dutch berm "shoulder of road") I can't keep my
> mouth shut. The interesting part in the Germanic root is the *-m-
> suffix, which has no explanation there, which makes it tempting to
> assume an Uralic origin (but cf. Proto-Finno-Ugric *maGe- "land",
> proto-Germanic *mad- "meadow").

Why not *brama- < *bHor-m(n)o-, a "Rasmussen derivative" of *bHer-mn.
'burden' (cf. Gmc. *strauma- < *srou-m(n)o- from *sreu-mn.)? The
etymology of a word meaning 'ledge' or 'brink' as 'something
supported' makes sense to me.

> So now we know why it's called Bremen and Birmingham. Or?

Birmingham < Bermingeham < OE *Beor(n)m(und)inga ha:m, as Brian has
already pointed out. The -ingham placenames in England are all based
on personal names.

Piotr