note on 'dhole'

[David L. White]

----- Original Message -----
From: Justin M. Mott <jmott at babel.ling.upenn.edu>

> It's a minor point, but there is no evidence that the etymon of this word
> had an initial voiced aspirate.  There are no clear sources for it from
> any of the (major) Indo-Aryan languages; the most plausible source for it
> is rather Kannada 'tola' "wolf".  Kannada, being Dravidian rather than
> Indo-Aryan, lacks voiced aspirates.  If this etymology is correct, the
> initial <dh> may just be a spurious (and isolated) spelling of initial
> /t/ (which, and I may be mistaken, could surface as [d]).

       I agree that that is what the usual supects say, on the linguistics
side, but on the biology side, all my sources agree that wolves do not occur
in south India, and therefore in the Kannada area.  (Why is not entirely
clear to me.  They did not spread from China into SE Asia either.  Dislike
of tropcal heat?)  Therefore there is something not quite right here.

Dr. David L. White