[gothic-l] Eruli: The IE Etymology XII

[Bertil Haggman]

"For *ermana-/*ermina-/*ermuna, the standard etymology
is also fairly solid: ...it is *er- 'move', the meaning 'great'
having developed through something like 'exalted, risen'.
Whether this is a medio-passive participle cognate with
Grk. ormenos < ornumi 'excite', 'move' is another matter.
Vries objected that this particle suffix is attested nowhere
else in Germanic and is never known to display e-o-zero
ablaut, so the Germanic forms must be substantive derivations.
This has been accepted by, e.g. Polomé, who nevertheless
stands by the old etymology: Jormunr, Erminones etc., are thus
substantivized adjectives (*Ermanaz 'apparently designates
the skygod Tiwaz as "the exalted one') and irmin- is this
adjective functioning as intensifying morpheme. Old Icelandic
jormuni 'ox,horse' had posed a problem for the old etymology:
it was traced to another root 'fit', and even *ermana-/*ermina-
*ermuna- was sometimes derived from this root and explained 
as 'firmly joined, massive'...

Meid (1967)...was unable to identify jarl, erilaR, clearly with any"
of the -l- suffixes; he included the words as 'comparable personal
designations' under the nomina agentis...if *erlaz had already become
a class designation or general word for 'man' by the time the ethnic
name Eruli was coined" is doubtful.

Erulically

Bertil


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