Re: Pre-Greek loanwords

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...> wrote:

>
> Loanwords can go either way. Semitic has borrowed such IE terms as
> *burg- 'tower', *tawr- 'bull', and *qarn- 'horn'.
>
> > The first one is a Wanderwort of Vasco-Caucasian origin. And unlike
> > *(s)teur-,*taur- doesn't have the IE Ablaut vowel, so it must be another
> > Wanderwort.
>
> The first one can be etymologized within PIE: *bHer-g^H- 'to carry within' > 'to protect from the elements' > 'to defend'. It started wandering from PIE, not to PIE.
>

Possible but highly unlikely IMHO.

> The second is *th2eur-,
>

No, this is an ad-hoc reconstruction.

> distinct from *steur-.
>

Actually it's *(s)teur-.

> Etr. <thevru> 'bull' also comes from it.
>

This is a loanword from *(s)teur-.