--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "The Egyptian Chronicles" <the_egyptian_chronicles@...> wrote:
> Since we are on the topic of 'bind', the following example is another
> unexplained match between Arabic and Germanic.
>
> POKORNY: #444 *gherdh- 'to gird, enclose, encompass'...
>
> Compare with CLASSICAL ARABIC (???) ghrD (v. & n.), literally,
> 'to gird a girth upon a camel (or any beast)'
>
> www.theegyptianchronicles.com/LINKS/GHRD.html
F. Steingass' Arabic-English Dictionary gives:
1) garaD- (inf. garD-) 'to strap the girth-leather across the camel's chest'
2) gurDa-t, girDa-t (pl. gurD, guruD) 'girth of a camel'
Also, from a vocabulary of Sudan Arabic:
gurDa-, gurda- 'girth of a camel saddle'
This Arabic word may belong in an Afroasiatic root *g-r-d. Compare:
HIGH EAST CUSHITIC:
Sidaama/Sidamo gurd- 'to tie a knot', gurda- 'knot'
LOW EAST CUSHITIC:
Oromo gurda-, gurda:- 'a woven sash worn around the waist'
SOUTHERN SEMITIC:
Gurage gurda- 'an institutional form of ritual bond-friendship made between distantly related clansmen that creates ritual ties and reciprocal obligations'
Amharic gurda- 'strip of cloth or rope tied around the waist of a person or the middle of an animal'
(?) CENTRAL SEMITIC:
Syriac gar'da:- 'web, weaving'
Jewish Aramaic gar'da:-, gir'da:- 'fiber/fringe of a tissue'
Nostraticist Aron Dolgopolsky compares the above Afroasiatic lexemes with the PIE root *gherdh- 'to gird' to provide them with a Nostratic etymology, but his choice is, of course, open to doubt.
Regards,
Francesco