Re: Tocharian A wäs, B yasa

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

>anaikio at mail.student.oulu.fi writes:

>1) What was the Proto-Tocharian form? (If it was something like *wVsV with
>front vowels, it fits quite well with Proto-Samoyed *wesä. A loan Samoyed >
>Tocharian is also geographically the most sensible alternative, if Tocharian
>was connected with the Afansevo culture.)

-- Tocharian A/B 'was' and 'yasa' from proto-Tocharian *wesa.

>2) Is there any other plausible etymology for the Tocharian word?

-- Proto-Tocharian *wesa from *haues (with metathesis) from PIE *haeus

PIE *haeusom, 'gold' also producing Old Latin 'auron', Old Prussian 'ausis',
Lithuanian 'auksas'.

There's a possible Mycenaean Greek cognate, 'awos'.

(The Classical Greek word for 'gold' is a loan from Akkadian, 'hurasu',
'gold', also found in Hittite. Attested in Mycenaean times as well --
'kurusos')