--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Torsten" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> Is the following scenario possible:
>
> Yazygian has a root *far- (< *par-, f- < p-, cf (Alanic? and)
> Ossetic) "hostile, other" (cf. Pokorny:
>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/65037 )
>
> and the derivative *far-áng- "enemy, one of the others". Yazygians
> in Pannonia use them to designate the Romans and those who enter
> their service. In the language of those people this becomes their
> self-dignation and *faráng- becomes pre-Frankish *fráng- (or, if p-
> was preserved in Yazygian, *par-áng- > *fr-áng-, cf. Avestan); when
> they adopt PGmc as language it becomes with Grimm *fránk-.
Premising that I have provided you with hard linguistic data (viz., attested words with the relative dates of their first attestation) and an inferred transmission scenario compatible with the same, whereas you are just inventing some non-attested words (such as your North Iranian suffix *-áng: what was it, and how was it used to form new words?) and a most implausible transmission scenario, I wish to point you to the following data:
1) The Old Indic adjective paìra-, whose basic meanings are 'farther, utmost, on the other side of (etc.)' was nominalized with the meanings 'another (different from one's self), a foreigner, alien, enemy', but the corresponding Old Iranian adjective para- 'farther, away from, different from (etc.)' did *not* denote enemity. It is, in case, the Old Persian compound word para-tara (lit. 'the one farther out, the one more beyond') -- which, AFAIK, is *not* attested in the Avesta, although it probably existed in Old Iranian -- that has this meaning (check out your Pokorny again!). Therefore, you cannot trace the meaning 'enemy, one of the others' to Old Iranian para- *if taken alone*.
2) V.F. Miller and J. Harmatta derive Ossetic faldær 'farther' from Old Iranian *para-tara (admitted this compound word existed at that stage of linguistic development). Ossetic fal(e)- 'on the other side' is a North Iranian reflex of Old Iranian *para-: cp. fal-ærdæm 'to the other side'. Now, you see that we are still far from your postulated "Yazygian" root **far-; indeed, the -r- necessary to produce "Frank" is lacking in this North Iranian reflex of Old Iranian para-. Moreover, the word fale- *alone* does not mean 'enemy' in Ossetic.
What then?
Regards,
Francesco