--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tolgs001" <trbetfgnan.z05q4w@...> wrote:
>
> >*Bo:sma- doesn't even necessarily refer to the breast(s). I
> >know the word best from the Old English context, where it usually
> >means the interior of something or a hidden space, such as that
> >created by the folded arms, rather than somethin open or exposed.
> >
> >Piotr
>
> In German, der Busen /'bu:z&n/ (Old High Germ. buosam, buosum.)
> means (1) "breast/s;" (2) a gulf: Meerbusen (syn. Bucht,
> Meeresbucht, Meeresarm, Golf). Example Jadebusen /'ja:d&bu:z&n/ a
> small German North Sea gulf (main port: Wilhelmshaven in Friesland;
> West of Bremerhaven, which is very near), part of main gulf
> Deutsche Bucht.
>
> German also has preserved the idea of "interior", "comprising",
> "engulfing" esp. (3) in figurative senses ("inner part, world")
> (according to the dictionary "(fig.) Inneres des Menschen". BTW,
> a very close, "good friend", like a brother, is called a
> Busenfreund.
>
DEO:
I. barm en "bryst';
glda., no., sv. d.s.,
oldnord. baðmr
(en nyere form, dannet eft. faðmr 'favn'),
nyisl. barmur, got. barms, oldsax., oldhty. barm 'skød', oldeng. bearm;
af germ. *barma- (som låneord i finsk parma),
ie. *bhormo-,
en afledn. på -m til roden
bher- 'bære (også et foster), bringe, løfte op' (se bære);
i aflydsforh. til *bherm-, hvoraf gr. phérma 'frugt, foster'.
Der er muligvis som ved andre navne på legemsdele sket en forskydning af betydn., her fra 'den svangres mave el. skød' til 'bryst'.
I don't like this. Supposedly PIE *bhormo- and *bho:smo- mean the same, and for good measure the "fathom" word seems involved somehow too. I smell substrate (I would, wouldn't I?).
I am reminded of the matk-, mask-, mark- "worm" complex. There I proposed something (extra-IE?) like -tk- -> -þk- > -sk- -> -rk- (or -sVk- -> -zVk- -> -rVk- with some undocumented epenthetic vowel? Perhaps something like -tm- > -ðm- -> -zm- -> -rm- (or -zVm- -> -rVm-)?
Torsten