SV: Beavers

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Rajarshi Banerjee [SMTP:rajarshi.banerjee at SMGINC.COM] skrev 27. april 2000
22:16:
> What is the earliest usage of the word beaver or related words in europe
as
> a reference to the species castor fiber.

It would seem to be very early. The word is related to the word for
"brown", so that an IE *bhebhru was originally a "brownie" or something to
that effect. Under all circumstances, the word is Indo-European.

> What were beavers called in classical greece, rome, by celts, goths?

The Latin word - apart from castor which you find in the scientific name -
is fiber, in late Lat. beber. The word castor is really from Greek - kastor
(with a long o).

I am not sure that the Goths have left us their word for beaver (others may
correct me) for the simple reason that Gothic is almost exclusively known
through a translation of the New Testament, where beavers are very
low-profile.

Speaking for Norwegian/Old Norse, the original name for a beaver in ON was
"bjorr". I suspect that this is genetically related to IE *bhebhru,
although my mastery of Germanic sound rules may be described as
non-existent. The word bjorr is still preserved in certain place-names,
such as Bjorvatn (Beaver Lake, also a personal name), but the modern
Norwegian word "bever" is a loan-word.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
0674 Oslo
Norway
Phone: +47 22 32 12 19
Fax 1:  +47 22 32 12 19
Fax 2:  +47 85 02 12 50 (InFax)
Email: lmfosse at online.no