--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> BTW, if *kat-án,W- (*katl-án,W-?) is a ppp it would mean "fallen,
> defeated" which would explain 'catamite' as spoils of war.
No need. Eva Fiesel explained <catami:tus> in the Twenties as a loan
from Etruscan <Catmite> 'Ganymedes'. The difficulty here is that E.
has -t- from Greek -n- (probably by dissimilation of -nm- to -tm-
after syncope, the E. -mite from G. -me:de:s being regular, cf.
Tiumite 'Diomedes' etc.), but this does not cloud the fact that the
word comes from a Greek (or Pre-Greek) proper name through Etruscan,
and it is silly to look for a derivation from a root *kat-.
DGK