Fallow Deer/A Closer Look

[petegray]

> << Likewise, PIE lacks a word for the fallow deer, common throughout southern
>> Europe, but has terms for 'elk' and 'red deer'.... The logical conclusion
>> would be that the IE languages were intrusive in areas which had...
>>fallow deer,... and native to an area with roe deer...>>

> it might be worthwhile looking at statements like
> the one above with a critical eye.

I've been keeping out of this discussion, since I know little about it (not
that that always stops me!), but we would do well to remember the fate of
similar arguments based on the PIE words for Salmon and Birch/beech.  It was
shown way back a long time ago, that the actual semantic content of the
words was not stable, but changed according to the physical context of the
speakers.   We should therefore be very suspicious of arguments that depend
on something as fine as what kind of deer was involved.

I therefore have no choice but to applaud the note of caution sounded above.

Peter