Bears and why they mostly are called otherwise

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

>X99Lynx at aol.com writes:

>Being one of those who don't think that there was an any actual word for
>'brown" in Latin or Greek, much less PIE, I'd like to suggest a much more
>prosaic scenario for words like 'bear.'

-- ah, no word for the color "brown".  Brown things didn't exist then,
perhaps?

>Although bears are big and dangerous, you are talking here about people whose
>ancestors seemed to make a living out of hunting some big, angry things.

-- the PIE speakers were farmers and pastoralists.

>Our own modern experience has been been that we've eaten or worn more fox,
>sable, buffalo, mink, beaver, alligator, shrimp, salmon, tuna and crayfish
>than we'd ever see alive.

-- our own modern experience is of being urbanites and non-farmers, which
makes us utterly un-typical of human beings before this century.

Until historically recent times, the overwhelming majority of human beings
spent their time finding their own food, and making most of their everyday
clothing, housing and tools.