Non-IE roots in Germanic/@, a, e, i, j, o, u

[Rick Mc Callister]

As Yoel Arbeitman points out, --and others have pointed out before-- the
initial /s-/ in Greek is unexpected

Is there any possible explanation other than as a loanword?

[btw: we had the beginnings of an interesting discussion about s- initial
words in Greek a while back, that I wish would continue]

Could Latin sidus be a back-formation based on a loanword? Or is this
reaching too far?

[snip]

>>Also, Greek `side:ros' = "iron", Latin `sidus' (gen `sideris') = "star".

>The Latin word is an s-stem *sidos-/*sides-, so there is no
>connection with Greek sida:ros (Attic side:ros), unless one
>assumes the word was borrowed directly from Latin.

>It might be more interesting to compare the Grk. word with Basque
>zilar ~ zirar ~ zidar ~ zildar "silver" (< *sidar ?).

[snip]

If I remember, you had proposed a possible Semitic source for this

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
MUW
Columbus MS 39701
rmccalli at sunmuw1.muw.edu