>
> Illich-Svitych has in his reconstruction of Nostratic
> Proto-Nostratic **/bok/a/ "to run away"
> Proto-Indo-European *bheug/bhegw- id.
> Proto-Uralic *pok-tV- "to run"
> Proto-Altaic *p[']Vk- "run"
>
> It occurred to me that the two senses of the root might be
> reconciled, namely as "acknowledge defeat" (> "bow down",
> "flee"),
> cf Danish 'bukke' "bend", 'bukke under' "succumb, perish".

And also that English 'to buck' is also a nice middle ground
between "bend, flex" and "flee". Perhaps the original sense should
be "struggling to get free"?

Torsten