Re: Reindeer domestication : two origins

On 2008-12-15 22:29, Trond Engen wrote:

> Another take: There's also an adjective (and a well established pun) Da.
> + Sw. <ren>, No. <rein> "clean" < ON <hreinn> < *xraini-, derived from
> the o-grade of IE *kr-ey- "separate, choose". The animal name could be
> "the chosen", either directly from the adjective or by back-formation
> from the compound <hreindýri>. It might have denoted the animal as an
> object of trade, after how herds were rounded up and animals singled out
> to be sold or slaughtered. Or, noting <-dýri> with a final i as opposed
> to <dýr> "animal", perhaps it originally meant "single animal in the
> herd" at a time when <dýr> was still a collective.
>
> But I'm an amateur and there may well be obvious errors.

A good point. The root is actually something like *kreh1(i)-/*krih1-,
well-known for its occurrence in *krih1-trom 'sieve' (Lat. cri:brum,
OIr. críathar. OE hri:dder). I was aware of the homonymy of 'clean' and
'reindeer' but couldn't think of a way to connect them. See also Gk.
krí:no: 'pick out, choose, decide' from the same root.

Piotr