Re: Bear (Was: HORSA vs. EXWA)

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 70822
Date: 2013-01-28

W dniu 2013-01-22 05:57, Brian M. Scott pisze:

> R-metathesis in *orht seems likely enough, yielding *roht
> and quite possibly *rought. I can't find anything to give a
> good indication of what *orhs might have done, with or
> without r-metathesis, but I'm skeptical of *hs > *ks.

Why? Isn't it what early OE _hs_ regularly becomes? To be sure, the only
example of OE -rhs-/-rcs-/-rx- I can think of is _neorhsen_ as in
_neorhsna-wang_ 'paradise' (no generally accepted etymology despite
several suggestions). -Vrht- > -rVht- is regular in Old Northumbrian and
sporadic in West saxon. It seems to have been pretty regular in one of
the major components of later London English (Old East Anglian?), hence
_bright, wrought_, etc.

Piotr