Bears and why they mostly are called otherwise

[Xavier Delamarre]

I wrote:

>> As for Finnish _karhu_, I have proposed (_Historische Sprachforschung_ 105,
>> 1992, pp 151-54) that it could be a loan from a Proto-Aryan form
>> _*harkSas_,

Ante Aikio wrote :

>I was not aware of this etymology. It sounds phonologically quite
>well possible; the only thing one could object to is Aryan *-as > Finnic
>*-u (why not Finnish karhas : karhaa- ?). But this is not a big problem, I
>guess - e.g., back-formation of non-attested karhas seems possible.

I have adressed this question in my article, but not in a very satisfying
manner, proposing a back-formation, like you. I think now a more obvious
solution would be to see the -u of karhu as a reflex of the Aryan ending
-o: of the thematic nominative (cf the Avestan & O.ind. treatment  -o: of
the ending -as) ; but we have the counter-exemples of _porsas_, _taivas_
(against _orpo_, _arvo_), maybe a question of time when the loans were made
(those in -as being earlier than those in -o/-u).

>>. "Eurasian" is a wide concept - what do you mean, more precisely?

I only mean that the IE were, since remote times, in close contact with the
Uralic tribes, that is somewhere in present Russia (so, let us say Eastern
Europe rather than Eurasia)

>> The funny thing is that we have a Finnish word _tarvas_ designating
>> big cervidae, which shows the same metathesis as Celtic (whereas there is
>> none in Aryan, Baltic & Germanic). But it may be pure coincidence or we
>> have to postulate that the loan was made somewhere in present Russia,
>> before (Proto-)Celts entered Central Europe.

>The Finnish metathesis is independent of the Celtic one. Actually,
>Pre-Finnish *wr > Finnic / Finnish rv seems to be a regular sound law -
>there are no counterexamples, and several Baltic loan words have undergone
>the same sound shift (e.g. Finnish torvi 'horn (instrument)', Finnish
>karva 'hair (not on head)', cf. Lithuanian taure~, gau~ras). Finnish
>tarvas is thus < *tawras < Baltic.

Thank you for the information, I did not know this law. What comparative
grammar  do you use ? (I have Laanest's "Einführung" and I have been
looking for years for Hakulinen's "Rakenne & Kehitys", out-of-print,
introuvable).

X. Delamarre
Ljubljana