Dear Piotr,
--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> On 2008-10-16 10:34, Francesco Brighenti wrote:
>
> > Yes, the etymology of the Avestan term a:tar ~ a:qr (see A.
> > Lubotsky's IA etym. database) *'fire' (n.) > 'fire-god' (m.) is
> > still unknown.
>
> Why not *h2áh1-to:r- from *h2ah1- 'burn, be hot', as in Pal.
> ha:ri, ha:nta (more widespread and better known with an *-s-
> extension)? Cf. Albanian *a:tra: > *otrë > Geg votër, Tosk
> vatër 'fire, hearth', and probable traces in Slavic.
The etymology for Old Iranian a:tar 'fire' you hint at is discussed
in detail by Douglas Q. Adamas here:
http://tinyurl.com/46o5qk
[if you can't view the fonts properly, click on "Change viewing
parameters" on top of page and set the encoding to Utf-8]
Like you, Adams considers PIE *h2eh1-s- an "eìlargissement" to the
root *h2eh1- 'to burn'. Old Iranian a:tar 'fire' (*'burner') would
be formed on the unextended root plus the *-ter- (*-tor-, *-te:r-, *-
to:r-, *-tr-) agent noun suffix. A very elegant solution indeed.
However, let me again quote Starostin & Lubotsky in this connection
because they propose a structurally similar (viz., root + *-ter-
suffix) etymology for Old Iranian a:tar, yet based on a different IE
root, *h2weh1- 'to blow' -- see what happens by just inserting a *-w-
into the previous root!(:^)):
http://us.share.geocities.com/iliria1/etymology1.html
[see their rehash of the root *a:t(e)r- 'fire' from Pokorny's
dictionary, p. 69; my minor changes within square brackets]:
"Root/lemma *a:t(e)r-: 'fire, *blow the fire', derived from a
suffixed root/lemma [*h2weh1- > *weh1-, contracted form *we:-] 'to
blow' with common IE formant -*ter-.
Material:
In a- grade: Hittite hat 'wither, wilt, become shriveled, dry out'...
Avestan a:tar...'fire'...;
Armenian airem 'burns, lights' (due to form *air- from *a:te:r);
Serbian vatra 'fire', Ukrainian vaìtra 'fire, stove', Polish
vatra 'straw cinder' are borrowed... from Rumanian vatra 'stove',
[this] again from Albanian (Geg votrë, votër with v-suggestion
before Albanian ot- from *a:t-, perhaps Iranian loanword).
...
Possibl[e] affiliation [of] Irish aìith..., Welsh odyn 'oven,
stove'..."
Best,
Francesco