On 2009-06-07 18:49, tgpedersen wrote:
> They probably like it.
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/17810
> <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/17810> Best way
> of keeping those pesky humans at bay.
I have a new tentative proposal concerning the "wisent" word. Not
anything seriously developed yet, but perhaps worth considering as an
alternative to the usual stinker etymology. We have this evidently
archaic root *wes-, which occurs in Hitt. wesiya- 'graze' < *wés-je/o-
and westara < *wés-tor- 'shepherd', OIr. fess and OIc. vist 'food' <
*wes-tah2, PGmc. *wes-a-/*wis-i- 'feast', etc. I am pretty convinced
that the 'spring' word *we:s-r./*wes-n- belongs here as well, with the
etymological meaning of '(the onset of) the grazing season'. So perhaps
the Germanic wisent was, somewhat prosaically, 'the grazer' (*wés-(o)nt-
> *wesanð- ~ *we/isunð-) rather than 'the stinker'.
Piotr