Bears and why they mostly are called otherwise

[Richard M. Alderson III]

On Mon, 20 Mar 2000, Anthony Appleyard (mclssaa2 at fs2.mt.umist.ac.uk) wrote:

> As regards possible euphemisms:
[...]
> wolf: PIE {wlqwos} > Greek {lukos}, not the expected **{wlapos} or similar;
> distortion to associate with {luk-} = "light" (= illumination)?

There would have been a sonority-linked interchange between [ulkwos] and
[wl.kwos] in PIE; this easily feeds into the attested Greek metathesis--
and provides an environment for Cowgill's Law (labiovelar loses labiality
in the environment of a high round vowel, so there is no need to look for
a connection to *leuk-.

								Rich Alderson