Horses

[Alexander S. Nikolaev]

JoatSimeon wrote:

>>But if Renfrew is right, and PIE did come from Anatolia, an *ek^wos (or
>>however it sounded at *that* time) meaning "donkey" would have trivially
>>drifted to "horse" in the horse-rich (donkey-poor) environment of Northern
>>and Eastern Europe. >>

>-- but it doesn't mean "donkey" in Anatolian, the earliest attested IE
>language of the area, and Armenian is intrusive there.

	Not really. It does, if we take into account the Sumerogramme
	ANShE.KUR.RA -

		ANShE 'Esel, ass'
		KUR 'Berg, mountain'
		RA - genitive-morpheme

	Thus the Sumerogramme (used instead of *Hek^wos-word [?]) means
	something like 'Gebierge Esel, mountain ass'
	and some (e.g. Vyach.Vsel.Ivanov) thought that this meaning
	could be chronologically prior to the meaning 'horse'

	Though i must say i personally do not believe in this...

	The real meaning of Luwian azuwa is also opaque...

			Alex Nikolaev