--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Arnaud Fournet"
<fournet.arnaud@...> wrote:
> Is there a possibility that the Indo-Iranian word Vaz(h)
ra "Indra's
> hammer/ax" could have a variant Uz(h)ra with wa-/u- alternation ?
>
> This would help understand some strange words in Uralic.
I understand the etymology of Skt. vájra- this way:
*wag^- 'to break, smash, strike, split, bite' (preferable to
*weh2g^-, which presents too many problems) > *wág^-ró- 'smashing'
(a Caland ro-stem adjective) > *wág^-ros- (noun) 'cudgel, mace,
club' > OInd. vájra- 'mythical weapon of Indra', OIr. vazra- 'main
weapon of Mithra' (both from IIr. *uájra-); Grk. PN
Meléagros 'caring for the club' (< *mele-wagros); and, according to
Mallory & Adams, perhaps Gmc. PN Odoacer (< Gothic < Proto-Gmc.
*auda-wakraz 'rich in weapons'?).
Finish vasara- 'hammer' and its cognates in other Finnic languages
may represent an OIr. loan word (< vazra-), thus, indicating early
C.Asian / S.Russian contacts, although S. Starostin regards this as
a set of inherited words:
http://tinyurl.com/5vf6g6
Some linguists hold that the word loaned into Proto-FU (in the form
*was'ara- 'hammer, axe') might have been Proto-IIr. *uájra- rather
than Proto-Ir. *vazra (vel sim.). This is stated on account of the
palatalized sibilant reconstructed for the Proto-FU term, whereas
depalatalization, conversely, already took place in Proto-Ir.
Regards,
Francesco