Re: Origin of *marko- Margus murg ma'rgas amurg

--- tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, george knysh
> <gknysh@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > --- tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> >
> > > Come to think about it, Marius' proposal might
> even be possible.
> > > The geminate -nn- in -manni and the connection
> with the ancestor
> > > Mannus means the Marcomanni were of the same
> kind as eg. the
> > > Chatti, ie. a displaced NWBlock people. But that
> means we should
> > > not expect k -> x -> h in the name, cf Chatti,
> in the first
> > > sources called Catti (and remember that this is
> the mark of the
> > > NWBlock, that it had no Grimm-shift). So in such
> a language we
> > > would have *marko- "horse". That also fits with
> Caesar's
> > > description that the Germani used a very new
> tactic of pairing men
> > > of infantry and of cavalry in pairs (he doesn't
> specifically
> > > single out the Marcomanni), so "horsemen" would
> make sense.
> >
> > GK: And the "Suebi" would be the infantrymen
> > (:=)))??
>
>
> No, the whole thing would be a Marcomanni regimen
> which Ariovistus
> might have let extend to the other peoples of his
> army.

****GK: We only know of these early Marcomanni via
Caesar. And he presents them quite clearly as one
"Germanic" tribe among others. I prefer not to go
beyond this, as do all expert commentators. I suspect
that if there was more to it, Caesar, interested as he
was in military tactics, would have mentioned it. He
didn't. Nor did anyone else (in the old texts) for
that matter. Good enough for me.****

>
> Sorry to have been so disloyal to you in this feud
> ;-) ,
> but with the changes I propose it is possible.

****GK: What isn't? (:=))) Very little... I prefer not
to reopen the solidly established merely on the basis
of a 0.00001% possibility.(:=))).****

> Marius' proposal, as it
> stands, won't fly, it would lead to a Germanic
> language with both
> *marxa- "horse" and *marko- "horse"; such a state
> wouldn't last long.

****GK: And practically speaking, that's what
matters.****

>
>
> Torsten
>
>
>

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