Pelasgian/was Etruscans

[Renato Piva]

Hebr. go:pher may well mean cypressus, but also any other resinous tree, while
gr. kyparissos needs no further definition. Besides that, if a solution within
IE is possible, then one should prefer this reconstructed solution to any
hypothesis of substrate or borrowing. We therefore should consider the fact
that -issos may be reconstructed as from *-iskos, with no substrate involved.

All of these words have been analysed by R. Lanszweert, Papyros: ein
mykenisches Schimpfwort?. Indogermanica et Caucasica. Festschrift K.H.Schmidt,
ed. R.  Bielmeier and R. Stempel, Berlin and N. York 1994, 77-96. On p. 82, R.
Lanszweert reconstructs IE *pk'u-perih2 "Schafspiess" (i.e. "spit for
sheep-meat") for Greek kypeiron, kyperos, kypairos "Name einer Wiesenpflanze
mit aromatischer Wurzel, 'Zyperngras, Cyperus longus rotundus'". From prehist.
Greek *ku-parjo, the name of the tree kyparissos, developed through analogy of
shape:  a tree looking like a spit or a spear.

Lanszweert doesn't say anything about the name of the island, but I think that
Cyprus was named after the copper mines and bronze production (as far as I
remember, copper bars were pike-shaped, but I may be wrong). For details see
Lanszweert.

R. Piva

Douglas G Kilday wrote:

[ moderator snip ]

> All three variants (Lat. cupressus, Gk. kuparissos, Heb. go:pher) are most
> likely derived from pre-Greek substrate, which I have been calling
> "Pelasgian", also known as "Aegean" or "Aegeo-Anatolian". The Latin spelling
> with cypr- reflects a belief (probably mistaken) that the word was borrowed
> from Greek.

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