llywarn

Grammatical information: f. (on the gender DELG).

Meaning: `fox' (Archil.).

Other forms: A shortened form is ἀλωπά (Alc.), ἀλωπός (Hdn.); on its origin Sommer Nominalkomp. 5 A. 5. Denom. ἀλωπεύει ἀνιχνεύει H., cf. NGr. (Crete) λαγονεύω `trace' from λαγώς, Kukules Άρχ. Έφ. 27, 70f.

Derivatives: ἀλωπεκέη, -ῆ `fox-skin' (Hdt.); ἀλωπεκία a disease of the skin (Arist.); ἀλωπεκίς f. = κυναλώπηξ (X.), also `head-gear from fox-skin' (X.) and `kind of vine' (Plin.), s. Strömberg Pflanzennamen 139

Origin: IE [Indo-European] [1179?] * h₂lop- `fox'

Etymology: ἀλώπηξ can agree with Arm. aɫuēs, gen. - esu `fox'. Cf. further Lith. lãpė and Latv. lapsa. Schrijver, JIES 26, 1998, 421-434 connects the Celtic words W. llywarn etc., which he derives from * lop-erno-, and reconstructs * h₂lop-. The Greek long ō is explained from an old nom. * h₂lōp-s. (Skt. lopāśá- `jackal' and MP rōpās `fox' have an orig. diphthong in the root and cannot be connected. Lat. volpes `fox', Lith. vilpišỹs `wild cat' should also be kept apart; Schrijver starts from a root * ulp-). - The inflection ἀλώπηξ, - εκος is unique in Greek. There is no support for Rix's - ōk-s, - ek-os (1976,, 143). In the Armenian form, the ē presents difficulties and is prob. secondary, the word rather showing old short e; Clackson 1994, 95. De Vaan, IIJ 43, 2000, 279-293, disconnects the suffix from the Indo-Ir. one (as above the words were disconnected) and doubts that Skt. -āśa- etc. is of IE origin. He follows Chantr. Form. 376, in assuming that the Greek (and Armenian) suffix - ek- was taken from a non-IE language; Greek would have lengthened the vowel in the nominative. But this does not explain the Greek ablaut: one would expect that the long vowel was introduced everywhere. Rather the suffixes are IE, and the long vowel of Saskrit and the short of Armenian confirm the Greek ablaut as archaic. - See also Blažek, Linguistica Baltica 7, 1998, 25-31. Cf. Nehring Glotta 14, 184, Lidén KZ 56, 212ff., Fraenkel KZ 63, 189f., Hermann KZ 69, 66.

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