Re: Scythian tribal names: Paralatai

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 59457
Date: 2008-07-03

On 2008-07-03 08:21, Aigius wrote:

> Can this PARA be Balto-Slavic PARA (Russian PARA, Lithuanian PORA),
> meaning PAIR, PORE. Then PARA + diminutive suffix -el = Parele +
> suufix -ait (-at) = Parelatai ?

The short answer is "no".

Apart from the absurdity of deriving the name from anything with a
meaning like 'little pair', a fuller answer should also point out that
Lith. pora is not even Balto-Slavic. It's a typical "Wanderwort" -- in
this case, a loan from Polish (<para>), ultimately from Latin (<pa:r>)
via German. Eng. pair of course has the same origin, except that the
intermediary was Old French (paire < Lat. pl. pa:ria).

Piotr