Re: Germanic 'bear'

W dniu 2012-03-11 13:16, Tavi pisze:

> I agree on that relationship, but IMHO the Slavic word underwent a
> semantic shift, because it's patently clear from 'werewolf' and Baltic
> 'bear' that this root designated some kind of carnivore.

Or some characteristic shared by wolves and bears. Note that Slavic
*tlakU 'tuft of hair', coll. *tlaka 'fur' refer precisely to the thing
that bears were hunted for. Slavic *vIlko-dlakU has the same structure
as ON berserkr.

> As this is a **long-range** etymology, it involves a less degree of
> certainity than the proposed relationship between the BS word and the
> others I mentioned before.

Long range or short range, weasels are not bears and before Linnaeus it
would not have occured to anyone to group them together. One could call
it a Hamletic etymology:

Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in the shape of a camel?
Polonius: By the mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed.
Hamlet: Methinks it's like a weasel.
Polonius: It is backed like a weasel.
Hamlet: Or like a whale.
Polonius: Very like a whale.

Piotr