From: tgpedersen
Message: 47599
Date: 2007-02-25
>People don't use a nursery word for something they fear.
>
> --- tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> Sean:
> > > I'd give the same explanation for timira- (with
> > loss of syl-final C,
> > > spread of the V to another syllable, both good
> > indications).
>
> > ??
>
> I speculated on finstar being from a child's
> pronunciation because it shows both f for th and n for
> m (before str). Both of those are likely during early
> language use; it's a fairly complex word phonetically.
>
> Similarly timira- shows two changes associated with
> children. It's a possibility that both can be
> explained this way (and with personified darkness a
> trait of PIE and the dark an early childhood fear,
> these forms may have entered common speech).