indoeuropean/hand

[Eduard Selleslagh]

At 07:51 19/07/99 -0400, you wrote:

>Ed Selleslagh writes:

><<Actually it's 'cornu' in the nominative.>>

>-Cornu- is "horn."  -Cornus- is the dogwood tree.

[Ed Seleslagh]
I'm sorry, I got confused.

><<All tree names, also those with -u stems like 'quercus' (oak) (and -o stems
>like po:pulus) are feminine.>>

>I had ever understood that all trees were feminine for essentially
>mythological reasons; they were thought to be the dwelling places of female
>spirits.

[Ed]
No problem with that.

<Could there be some relationship here?  I mean
>'extremities, branches...'.  That would also account for manus, acus, cornu
>and
>tribus being feminine, but not for domus nor idus.  'Foot, pes...' are
>probably
>not viewed as extremities, but as 'base' to stand on.>>

>Now, my understanding is that the root idea of -idus- is of a division by
>halves.  When the months used to be lunar, the kalends marked the first
>appearance of the slip of the new moon, and the ides were the date of the
>full moon.  Perhaps this could be worked into your hypothesis as well.

[Ed]
Maybe, but I have no idea how. Have you?

Domus can be fitted in your 'dwelling' remark.

Ed.

Eduard Selleslagh
B-9120		Haasdonk (Beveren)
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Phone & Fax: +32-3-775.69.69	E-Mail: edsel at glo.be