Oldest words in English?

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

FWIW, in a "word history note," AMERICAN HERITAGE accepts as possible the 
suggestion of a Bronze Age borrowing (from some unknown non IE language) of the 
proto word for TIN into the proto Celtic and Germanic languages. 

Or maybe some smart early Celtic metalurgist decided to name the word after 
her mother Tena (with i/e merger before nasals).

In a message dated 3/1/09 2:04:59 PM, JMB at STRADLEY.COM writes:


>         I'm doubtful that tin has been known long enough to be from a
> pre-Indo-European substrate.  Wikipedia says it was used in bronze by
> 3500 BC, but I doubt if it's much older than that, and I assume that
> words from a pre-Indo-European substrate would have to be quite a bit
> older.  Apples, badness, and gold, of course, do have the requisite
> antiquity, but when one part of a claim is demolished, I tend to look
> askance at its remaining parts.
> 
> 
> John Baker
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:06 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Oldest words in English?
> 
> If you're like me, you have in front of you a copy of Norris McWhirter's
> _Guinness Book of World Records: New! Giant 1980 Super-Edition!_, and
> you're looking at p. 207, which states:
> 
> "Some as yet unpublished research indicates some words of a
> pre-Indo-European substrate survive in English, including apple (apal),
> bad (bad), gold (gol), and tin (tin)."
> 
> Comments?
> 
> JL
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> 




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