Re: [tied] Bird names, etc. (was: Re: sea, seal)

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 49560
Date: 2007-08-19

On 2007-08-18 19:10, Rick McCallister wrote:

> re: street, is it related to stream?

No, <stream> is *srou-mo-, from the root *sreu- 'flow'. Cf. Gk. rhéuma
'current, strem, discharge' < *sreu-mn. and rhóos < *srow-o-s (sme
meaning), Skt. srávati 'flow', etc.

> or from *ster-

It's the deverbal adjective of *sterh3- 'spread out, scatter'.
*str.h3-tó- gave Lat. stra:tus with such meanings as 'paved, levelled
out', fem. (via) stra:ta 'paved road', borrowed into early Germanic by
people familir with Roman "streets". Lat. long /a:/ was substituted with
the Germanic reflex of *e:, a fully low vowel in common West Germanic,
hence OHG stra:za, OE stræ:t.

Piotr