Re: Not "catching the wind " , or, what ARE we discussing?

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 56816
Date: 2008-04-06

--- jouppe <jouppe@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:
> >
> > At 11:11:59 AM on Thursday, April 3, 2008,
> tgpedersen wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > > The usual explanation for 'cat' in Germanic and
> Celtic is
> > > that it is a loan from Latin; but if it is so,
> then
> >
> > > 1) why does Freya have a cat-drawn chariot
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja
> >
> > > qoute: '"People of many races visited this
> burning. First
> > > is to be told of Odin, how Frigg and the
> Valkyries went
> > > with him, and his ravens; but Freyr drove in his
> chariot
> > > with the boar called Gold-Mane, or Fearful-Tusk,
> and
> > > Heimdallr rode the horse called Gold-Top, and
> Freyja drove
> > > in her chariot drawn by cats..." (Gylfaginning
> (49))"';
> > > why this if they only knew the cat from the
> Romans; this
> > > doesn't look like a late accretion?
> >
> > It strikes me as a detail that could have been
> added or
> > modified at just about any point. I also note
> that while
> > Freyr has Gullinbursti/Slíðrugtanni, Heimdallr has
> > Gulltoppr, Þórr has Tanngnióstr and Tanngrisnir,
> and Óðinn
> > has Sleipnir, Freyia just has anonymous cats.
> >
> > Brian
> >
> - - - - - - -
> It strikes me that there would have been plenty of
> time for the
> innovation to enter the Icelandic litterature. The
> sagas supposedly
> also contain elements modelled on christian tales.
> The oldest
> elements of the sagas can hardly be proven much
> older than mid first
> century.
> Jouppe
>
>
The word for cat could have changed over the years.
Before the introduction of domestic cats, there must
have been words in Gmc, Celtic, Slavic et al for cats,
keeping in mind that Latin had feles and Greek had
ailuro-



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