cat < ?

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/15/2001 9:52:56 PM, rmccalli at sunmuw1.MUW.Edu writes:
<< Buck [1949: 181] suggests that Greek aie/louros, ai/louros "cat, marten,
ferret, weasel, etc." may be from aio/los "quick" + oura/: "tail" >>

Yes, but it's exactly the ferret connection to this and other cat words that
suggest the concept of the animals was functional rather than descriptive,
ferrets not looking a lot like cats except perhaps in size.

The tail idea also occurs in <skiouros> squirrel, interpreted as
'shadow-tail.'   But the shadow part <skio-) doesn't seem to make a lot of
sense.  (Perhaps, <skiros>, sometimes land overgrown with bushes, scrub.)

Without going into gory details, <aiolos/aioleo/aiolizo> also seems to refer
to the variegated or glistening pieces of clothing, embroidery, sheen, the
making of multi-colored garments, embellishments or adornments, like fur
collars; cf. <aiolomitres>, "glittering girdle",in Homer; multi-colored
turban; <allix>, man's upper garment.  However, <killouros> wagtail; <kolouro
s> stump-tailed.

There are a lot of Gr words that refer to snake or serpents, of course, with
similar forms, e.g., <molouros>, <ouraios>, and one wonders if 'tail' and
'snake' originally shared just a descriptive element or whether a common
function was involved.

Regards,
S. Long