Re: bear

From: Tavi
Message: 68720
Date: 2012-03-02

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > BADGER Proto-Nax *Xest 'otter' , Basque hartz 'bear' "azkonar (from *harz-konH-) 'badger'; for the second element of this latter form, see the Proto-Yeniseian word for WOLVERINE"
>
> The "badger" word in Basque (<azkoin> and other similar spellings < *(t)askone-) is more likely a loan from Celtic (*tasko-, cf. late Latin taxo:, -o:nis). The "bear" word <hartz>, which is strikingly (but most likely deceptively) similar to PIE *h2artk^o-, is at any rate hardly relatable to <azkoin>.
>
Sure, the Basque words are both loanwords, but Bengtson-Ruhlen's proposal actually made me discover IE *h2ºrtk´-o- 'bear' is actually related to NEC *XHVr[ts´']V 'marten; otter' (a Nakh-Dargwa isogloss). The sibilant affricate would explain the various reflexes seen in IE (t, s, S, kt, ks\) which lead IE-ists to reconstruct a rare cluster *tk´. This root can also be found in Altaic *karsi 'marten' and Yeniseian *Xa(?)s- (~ k-) 'badger', and the latter probably misled Ruhlen into positing a relationship with Basque.