Re: Pali & Icelandic

Hi Ole,

> How nice. I am very pleased! There is a lot to learn, and much to read in
> old Icelandic. We call it "Old Norse" in my part of the world.

I would probably be more interested in the intellectual cross-currents
of modern Iceland than in the ancient literature.  After all, if Max
Muller is correct, the content of the Norse sagas is "basically the
same" as the Vedas anyway.  (ha ha ha)

> No one knows what aryan denotes. But you can have my opinion. It is probably
> a loan word from semitic based on the root /'ar/ denoting free people as
> opposed to slaves.

This is a very widespread phenomenon in ethnic "autonymns" --e.g.,
both "Tai" (now Thai) and "Lao" have their origins in terms used (in
extant inscriptions) to refer to the "non-slave" portion of the
population.  The popular etymology of "Thai" as meaning "free/freedom"
is a bit of a glorification in this regard.  This would be about as
valid as glossing "aristocrat" (which, as you know, is of one
etymology with "Aryan" via greek) as "the free".

> There are some good semitic cognates.

Although it may sound obscure, I would be interested in the Albanian
cognates.  It seems that Albania was a more important "bridge" between
the two continents than previously thought; and, if you can dig
beneath the veneer of Catholicism, you can apparently find some
important linguistic evidence of "Proto-Thracian" --think of what a
different world it might be if we still used that old term instead of
"Aryan"!

E.M.