From: dgkilday57
Message: 67173
Date: 2011-02-18
>I have no problem with being cited, but I prefer to call myself an amateur philologist rather than a linguist. A linguist knows and can explain the difference between "phonetics" and "phonology", and I have not yet grasped the distinction between "langue" and "parole".
> [...]
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> 3) DGK & Marius do you mind if I mention you as amateur linguist members of the cybalist?
> The full section of this paper I'm working on will look something like:I fully agree with that. I think Muellenhoff was very likely correct in regarding Irmin as containing the IE mediopassive participial suffix *-meno-. And perhaps the root is the same as that of the English suppletive preteritive presents <are> and <art>. And possibly Torsten is correct in understanding Arminius as the NWB equivalent of Irmin, assuming we have grounds for *-erC- > *-arC- in NWB in word-initial syllables. (Whether <market> etc. against <Merkt> etc. provides evidence for NWB borrowing Latin <merca:tum> as *markat-, I cannot say.)
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> Now regarding the etymology of Hermes and the Hermae: the origin of the names remains utterly unclear. Robert Beekes has suggested it derives from a Pre-Greek substrate (ENDNOTE needed). However, among IE origins, it has been proposed that the name might most likely arise from any of three PIE roots. The first possibility is suggested by Sergei Nikolayev, indicating that it may derive from PIE *swer-(1) "to speak, talk." The other two options have been presented by amateur linguists.(ENDNOTE CITING DGK & MARIUS) One is the PIE root *ser-(3) "to line up, join together, connect" - thus producing a reconstructed Attic-Ionic *herme, meaning "articulate speech." The remaining option is the PIE root *ser-(2) "to flow, to rush, to follow"; thereby resulting in something akin to "the one that follows the paths" (the God of Travellers - the Messenger of Gods).
> Regardless of which PIE origin is used (*swer- or *ser-), Hermes cannot be linguistically related to PGmc *ermana-. Likewise, if Beekes is correct, and Hermes is Pre-Greek in origin, again it cannot be linked to the PGmc *ermana-.
> As such, Hermes/Hermae and Irmin are blatantly not linguistically connected in any way, shape, or form.