The word crown is derived from L. corona "crown," originally "wreath, garland." What are the chances that the L. corona is rooted in the Iranian kharena "kingly glory; halo"?

So, in your opinion, do all words originate from Iranian words?

No, I don't think that all words originate from Iranian words, but more recently there have been a few words have made me question whether the people behind the etymologies of convention were maybe a little biased in there deductions, and compelled to attribute the root of certain words to the "West" rather than the "East." And I think that it's important that there is someone out there to check them. Though I may not necessarily be that person considering my knowledge of the comparison method is limited the etymologies that I'm presenting appear to me to be pretty obvious. So far the words that I've been questioning appear to be ones related to religion. Mithra - Mithras, peresat-priest, Yatha Ahu Vairya + Asha - Yeshua, Khwarsheed-Khrist(os), kharena-crown...

One might argue that since Mesopotamia was the birthplace of this mess we call civilization, and proto-Indo-European languages are connected to it, most all modern Western languages and cultures are of Mesopotamian origin.

As for the derivation of a divine name, a note in Chicago's Oriental Institute states that "El" was a Canaanite god's name that was adopted into Hebrew.

Ah, Geoff, glad to see you learned something while you were in Chicago!

Any idea on the etymology of the word troll?

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Ah, Geoff, glad to see you learned something while you were in Chicago!

Oh, you mean I didn't already know that? Well!
How about this: "El" means a divinity, and "vis" in French means screw," so "Elvis" means "Godscrew." That explains why silly teenage girls screamed, "OH, GOD!!!" when Mr. Presley had sex with them. I bet them there Chicago hot shots didn't know that!

quote:

Any idea on the etymology of the word troll?

Who cares! It's so slow here lately that I'm even enjoying trolls! But, of course, trolls hail from Norway, so we can assume that mojobadshah is either Norwegian or an escapee from Garrison Keillor's program.

Actually, it is an interesting question. I asked it sarcastically, but in looking it up, I find that the verb and noun versions seem to have different etymologies. The verb seems to origninate in the 14th-15th centuries from Old French, meaning to "roll from side to side" or to "stroll."

But the noun origninated in the 1600s, meaning "ugly dwarf or giant" (they seem mutually exclusive to me). It seems to have been supernatural word, similar to the Swedish word, trolla, meaning "to charm or bewitch."

Now this all comes from Etymology.com, and I know some people here don't trust that site. I find that much of it comes from OED, sometimes word for word.

The OED supports these etymologies.
In other news...
My favourite trolls

The truth lies between mojobadshah and Geoff.

The Middle East like any crossroads, is in constant flux. "Native" languages were buffeted and absorbed by new migrants - Semitic tongues from east Africa colliding with IndoEuropean languages coming down from the Sarmatian plains.

Excellent treatment in "Empire of the Word" by Nicholas Ostler. Spent quite some time trying to sort out the doings in Mesopotamia & Anatolia, and only got as far as below:


Related to Indus Valley?
Sumerian
Elamite

Semitic
Akkadian
(Amorite)
Aramaic
Arabic

IndoEuropean
Palaic - Hittite (absorbed the non-Indo Hatti)
↑Luwian – Lycian
Sidetic/Carian ↑
Phrygian (Midas)
Lydian (Tantalus & Niobe, Croesus)
(Alan) Mede/Pars/Persian

Isolates?
Hurrian / Urartic → Mitanni successor?
Kassite
Gutian

Robert might enjoy this.

goofy
Many thanks. I foresee hours of pleasurable diversion tracking the threads.