Re: (unknown)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

>
> W dniu 2012-03-12 21:09, Brian M. Scott pisze:
>
> > > It makes the BSl. badger, etymologically, a
> > > 'hole-dweller'.
> >
> > The original hobbits!
>
> Just a loose thought: PGmc. *aikw(e)rno:n- 'squirrel' begins with
> *aikw-, which matches BSl. *ai3'w- perfectly. Maybe everyone so far has
> been wrong about the etymology of the Germanic squirrel and the critter
> is the other original hobbit?

I wonder whether the Old Swedish forms cited by Noreen (Aschw. Gr. 69-70, 1904) reflect the original anlaut. He gives <i:kurni>, <i:korn(e)>, <y:korn(e)> reflecting Gmc. *i:kurn-, *i:kwern-, which he takes as root-ablaut variants of the more usual *aikurn-, *aikwern-. But might the former be original (PIE *h1eigWern- vel sim.) and the latter folk-etymological after 'oak'?

I wonder further whether Lat. <vi:verra> 'ferret' belongs with purported deformations of PIE *wer-wer-, or originated with the same *h1eigWern- vel sim., with initial /w/ acquired from <vi:vus> 'alive' (sc. 'vigorous') by folk-etymology. This can drive a man nutty.

DGK