Quoth Chip Camden on Sunday, 08 May 2011: > Quoth Richard on Sunday, 08 May 2011: > > On Sun, May 08, 2011 at 08:20:22AM -0700, Chip Camden wrote: > > > Quoth Richard on Sunday, 08 May 2011: > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > somewhat off-topic but found it interesting: 'mutt' appears to denote a > > > > kinship relation "grand" in the sense of grandafter, grandmother in > > > > Dravidian languages: > > > > > > > > http://books.google.com/books?id=T7Wv4ncys88C&lpg=PA11&ots=qFTz1PQ1MT&dq=mutt-ajje%20mutt-awwa&pg=PA11#v=onepage&q=mutt-ajje%20mutt-awwa&f=false > > > > > > > > Richard > > > > > > > > --- > > > > Name and OpenPGP keys available from pgp key servers > > > > > > Interesting -- although unfortunately the root carries the meaning of > > > "old" > > > rather than "grand" in the English sense. Although perhaps we could > > > stretch it from "old" to "mature." > > > > I know very little about this languages but from what I read I had the > > impression > > "mutt-" was mostly (or perhaps exclusively) used to express relations such > > as > > grand-father and grand-mother. > > > > > > Richard > > > > --- > > Name and OpenPGP keys available from pgp key servers > > > > Just hit the "Next" link on that page to see other usages that relate > more to "old". It looks like the word for "great-grandfather" more > literally means "elder father". >
Of course a much more interesting question is whether there is any link at all between this Dravidian word and the English word "mutt". The latter seems to come from an originally Celtic word referring to a ram, thence "mutton", leading to "muttonhead" as slang for a stupid person, then applied to a dog of uncertain heritage and shortened. Since the Celts were Indo-European, and the Dravidian languages predate the Indo-Aryan, it seems unlikely that there would be any connection unless the word is also found in the Indo-Aryan languages. -- .O. | Sterling (Chip) Camden | http://camdensoftware.com ..O | sterl...@camdensoftware.com | http://chipsquips.com OOO | 2048R/D6DBAF91 | http://chipstips.com
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