Re: Whores are cows and vice versa

Jens has published an ingenious explanation of Balto-Slavic *kárwa: as a
loan from proto-Celtic: *k^erh2wah2 > *karawa: (Joseph's Law) --> BSl.
*kar&wa:. It has the merit of explaining two different oddities (the
o-grade that doesn't cause the Saussure effect and the "centum" stop)
with one fell swoop. Many of the etymologies regarded as plausible by
Gol/a,b would be regarded as outdated or otherwise questionable now, and
the one for the 'whore' word is a good example. The vocalism doesn't
seem to make any sense, and the semantic development is anything but
compelling. Vasmer may be right in equating 'whore' and 'hen' in Slavic.

Piotr