andera 'woman' Celtic ?

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Rich and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Glen Gordon <glengordon01 at hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 1999 9:12 PM

<snip>

> And second, excuse me if I missed something (which is possible because
> I haven't been fully paying attention till now) but, has a Greek form
> like *andre: (feminine of <ane:r>) been considered in the discussion?

> [ Moderator's response:
>   The feminine of _ane:r_ is _gune:_.
>   There is a feminine derivative _andria_ "manhood", which if it goes back
>   to PIE derives from *H_2nriH_2.
>   --rma ]

Are we being quite fair here? There is Old Indian na'ri: and Avestan
na:iri:, 'lady (?).

[ Moderator's response:
  The long vowel in the first syllable marks this as a late formation in Indic.
  It therefore provides no evidence for a "feminine" in the proto-language.
  --rma ]

Based on IE *1. (s)ner-, and Egyptian nrj, 'fear', 'protect', and nrj-jHw,
'ox-herd', and nrw, 'terrible one', and Sumerian nir, 'hero', and
'overcome',  I believe it is possible that the basal meaning of this root is
'fear-inspiring', and so would not be restricted to males.

Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN (501) 227-9947; FAX/DATA (501)312-9947 9115 W. 34th St.
Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803 and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit
ek, at ek hekk, vindga meipi, nftr allar nmu, geiri undapr . . . a ~eim
meipi er mangi veit hvers hann af rstum renn." (Havamal 138)