STUDIES IN ARMENIAN ETYMOLOGY - Get a Free Blog

Usually *h2leh1-ur is reconstructed for the Armenian word [Beekes 1969: 234;
2003: 191; Eichner 1978: 152; Normier 1980: 20; Olsen 1999: 154, 156]. Hamp
(1970: 228a) reconsructs *h2(e)leh1uro-, which does not agree with Kortlandt's view
on loss of w (see 2.1.33.1). Eichner (ibid. 153-154) derives aliwr `flour', aɫbiwr
`well, spring' etc. from nominative *-e�wr� assuming a subsequent development -iwr >
-ewr analogically after the genitive -er which in turn has been derived, he says, from
*-ewros, a replacement of an original *-ewnos. Clackson (1994: 94) considers this
explanation as entirely ad hoc since the oblique stem of the word for `spring' must
have been *b h run-, cf. Goth. brunna, etc.; see s.v. aɫbewr and 2.1.33.1 for more
detail. He concludes that the -e- of aɫbewr comes from PIE short *-e-, and that we
must seek a different explanation for the -e- of alewr.
It has been assumed that alewr is a borrowing from Greek; see HAB 1: 94b for the
references. Hu�bschmann (1883: 17; see also 1897: 414) rejected this in view of Arm.
-l- instead of -ɫ-. Clackson (1994: 94-95) advocates the loan theory and argues that
the palatal -l- can be due to the environment of a front vowel, cf. balistr `catapult',
etc. He concludes that "either alewr is a loan, or it stems from a different prototype
from that ancestral to the Greek forms". Even if the two nouns do both continue the
same formation with the meaning `flour', he proceeds, it seems unlikely that this is
an innovation.
The loan theory is advocated also by Greppin (1986: 288) who argues that in the
Bible translation alewr mostly renders Gr. ��������, and concludes: "Clearly, the
appearance of Arm. alewr instead of *aɫewr is the result of learned tampering".
One finds hard to accept that such a common thing as is `flour' can be a
borrowing (HAB 1: 94b with references). Moreover, alewr is the principal word for
`flour' which is dialectally ubiquitous, so such a word would have hardly been
borrowed from (or influenced by) Greek. As a last resort, one might assume a very
old borrowing at the "Mediterranean" stage. In my view, the Greek and Armenian
words for `flour' continue the same protoform, viz. *h2leh1-ur�. If the original form
was indeed alewr and not aliwr, one may posit a loss of the intervocalic laryngeal,
see s.v. yoyr. On -ewe- > -e- in GDSg aler see HAB 4: 628a etc. (for more detail and
references see 2.1.33.1).
axaz, axaz axaz axaz GDPl axaz-a-c` `ermine, mustela alba'.
The only attestation mentioned in NHB and HAB is found in K`aɫ. ar� leh. [NHB
1: 14c]:
Nmanin oɫj�axohk` axazac`, ork` t`oɫun zink`eans əmbr�nil yorsordac` k`an t`e�
�aɫaxil "The righteous (people) resemble ermines which prefer to let themselves to be
26