From: G&P
Message: 66248
Date: 2010-06-30
> I've been wondering if Hittite <alakšanduš> is a loanword from Greek <aleksandros> (rather than an independent Anatolian formation). Since the Greek word appears to have a transparent etymology, …
The logic might just as easily be the other way round. It is quite common for a foreign word or name or phrase, which of course has no transparent meaning in a different language, to be borrowed in a form that does produce meaning in the new language. I think my favourite example is “break a leg”, the wish that actors say to each other. It is (allegedly) based on a Yiddish phrase that means “good luck”. So we can’t use the etymological transparency of Alexander to prove anything.
Peter