Re: Italian "boy" - ragazzo

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

> [...]Anatoly Liberman has recently
> pointed out the probable existence of a Germanic root *rag- 'fury,
> excitement', hence <ragged> and various names for evil spirits, e.g.
> older Eng. <ragman> 'devil', cf. OFr. rogomant, and <Ragamuffin> as

one

> of the Mediaeval names for the devil.

Lith. rãgana (1) 'witch' instantly comes into mind. I've seen it
explained as belonging either to regé:ti 'see' ('(fore)seer') or to
rãgas 'horn' ('bearing ceremonial horns') -- itself an etymologically
obscure word in Balto-Slavic, -- but 'fury' of course makes much more
sense.

Sergei