From: stlatos
Message: 59605
Date: 2008-07-19
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "stlatos" <stlatos@> wrote:I don't think the date of attested meanings matters in this case
> > [re: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/59599%5d
>
> > Obviously there were no variants [the reference here is to
> > M. Witzel's proposed two variant forms of a supposed prehistoric
> > Central Asian or Near Eastern proto-word for 'speckled animal,
> > panther/leopard', viz., **pard- or **parth- vs. **pand(h)-], only
> > one language (at least) with metathesis (borrowed into G panthe:r,
> > Skt pun.d.ari:ka-).
> Skt. pun.d.ari:ka- in the Rgveda means 'lotus flower', and only
> later (in the Mahabharata) it is used as the name of a Naga
> (serpent) king. Later Skt. lexicons also give the gloss 'tiger'.
> InI wouldn't say G came directly from Skt, but that they both came
> his Old Indo-Aryan etymological dictionary, M. Mayrhofer expresses
> strong doubts about the nineteenth-century etymology which derives
> Gk. panthe:r- from Skt pun.d.ari:ka-.
> Instead, he considers anI'd say folk etymology is almost certain for G, but the existence of
> eastern origin for the Gk. word and hypothesizes a proto-form
> *parthe:r- with connection to pardalis- (cf. Witzel's **pard-
> /**parth- variants), and the formation of a folk etymology resulting
> into panthe:r- (see Beekes at http://tinyurl.com/5ow6js ).
> In my previous message in this thread I forgot to mention that theI'd say that in PIE:
> Hittite word for 'panther/leopard', pars^(a)na-, probably derives
> from the same root. Cf. also Hattic ha-prassun 'of the leopard',
> which, according to Gamkrelidze & Ivanov (p. 500ff.), would reflect
> a non-IE Near Eastern noun root *prass- 'leopard' borrowed into
> Hittite as pars^(a)na-. Other scholars have reconstructed the
> Hittite word as *pers-no- < PIE *p(o)rs-neh2- 'speckled', with this
> presupposing that the root in question is purely IE.