Re: Afro-Asiatic substrate (re "folk" "polk" "pulkas")

From: tgpedersen
Message: 64474
Date: 2009-07-29

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, george knysh <gknysh@...> wrote:
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> --- On Wed, 7/29/09, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
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> Slavic *pUlkU definitely looks like Germanic *fulkaz borrowed
> through the usual phonological filters (an inherited syllabic /l/
> would have been much more likely to vocalise as *Il). Lith. pu~lkas
> and Latv. pu`lks are loans via old East Slavic rather than directly
> from Germanic.
>
> ****GK: And is *fulkaz also inherited or does the Semitic loan
> notion have some credibility? ****

You have all the facts before you, you decide. Often the situation doesn't get better than this.

Actually you don't:

de Vries
fylgð f. 'begleitung, gefolge' (< germ. *fulgiþo:),
nisl. fylgð, far. nnorw. fylgd, aschw. fylghþ. —
ae. folgoð 'gefolge, dienst; amt, bezirk; Schicksal',
ahd. folgida. —
vgl. fylgja 2.

fylgja

- 1 f. 'begleitung, gefolge; schutzgeist',
"escort, retinue; protective spirit"
nisl. fylgja 'nachgeburt, gespenst' "afterbirth, ghost"
...
... dann also zu fylgja 2.

— 2 schw. V. 'folgen, begleiten', "follow, escort"
nisl. fär. nnorw. fylgja, nschw. följa, ndä. følge.—
ae. fylgan, folgian,
afr. folgia, fulgia, folia,
as. folgo:n,
mnl. volgen,
ahd. folge:n. —
vgl. fylgð.

Man hat an die sippe von fela anknüpfen wollen; bed. übergang 'bedecken > beschützen > in jemands gefolge sein' (...);
recht unsicher.
It has been attempted to associate it with the relatives of fela "hide", meaning transition "cover > protect > be in someone's retinue"

Dagegen zu einer idg. wzl *pelgh- 'folgen', wozu auch
On the other hand to a PIE root *pelgh- "follow". to which also

kymr. corn. ól 'spur' "track" und
kymr. olaf 'der letzte' "the last"

fylki n. 'kriegerschar, haufen; distrikt'
"warrior troop, bunch; district"
(< germ. *gafulkja),
nisl. fär. fylki, nnorw. schw. da. fylke (...). —
ae. gefylce 'schar, regiment'. —
vgl. folk.—
Dazu gehören weiter:
To this further
fylking f. 'heeresabteilung', "army division"
fylkir m. 'heeresführer, könig' "army commander, king" (poet.) und
fylkja schw. V. 'kriegsvolk ordnen, in Schlachtordnung aufstellen',
"prepare warriors, set in battle order"
nisl. fär. fylkja, nschw. fylka. — >
ae. fylcian (...).

Pokorny doesn't know any root *pelgh- "follow"

Obviously (?) we have to account for two roots in Germanic *folk- and *folg-; according to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk
German also has a noun Pulk "group of persons standing together" which must be either a loan from Baltic (the Slavic semantics doesn't match) or a pre-Grimm survival (NWBlock?).



Vennemann tries to identify his Semitoid Atlantic with Pictish; not very successfully I think.


Torsten