Olives/was: Lactose Intolerance/Renfrew

[Rick Mc Callister]

	I read a recent article in either Natural History or National
Geographic (or some similar magazine) that olives were first cultivated in
present Syria.
	If so, one would expect a Semitic root for the word
	Yet, if I remember correctly, the origin of Latin oliua either from
or cognate to Greek elaia, elaion is unknown
	As far as I know, Semitic is the only recorded non-intrusive
language group in that specific area.
	Arabic has zayt "oil (of any kind)", zaytun "olive", whence Spanish
aceite, aceituna. I think the Hebrew forms are cognate.
	If olives are indeed from that area, any idea where the word may
have come from?

>[I think] JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:
Snip:

>> Furthermore, PIE lacks vocabulary to describe common Anatolian plant and
>> animal terms; olives and lions, just to take two examples.  If Anatolian
>> were indigenous, one would expect to find it with a native vocabulary for
>> these, and that vocabulary to be preserved in areas (eg., Greece) with
>> similar biota.

>There are no olives on the Central Anatolian Plateau, nor in are there
>in Eastern Anatolia.

>Geoffrey SUMMERS
[snip]

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701