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Gr. τρυγών ‘1. turtledove; 2. stingray (fish)’: one word or two words?

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Le Feuvre C.

Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia

2011

vol. 16

issue 1

23-31

The stingray, trugón, is not named after the turtledove trugón, as is usually assumed: the fish is not a ‘sea turtledove’. It should rather be analyzed as *ptrug-on- ‘the winged one’, with the zero grade of pteryx, ‘wing’: the ray’s fins are similar to wings, and their slow flapping movement gives the impression that the ray flies rather than it swims. A zero-grade form of the name of the wing is attested in Iranian, but is probably not to be sought in Slavic ‘hawk’. The etymological form, then, should be reconstructed *(π) trugón; the attested form is trugón, with long [u:] warranted in metrical occurrences, and analogical after that of the bird name trugón ‘turtledove’, because of the synchronic system in which many bird names were transferred to fish, the bird name behaving as the model. Thus two originally distinct words, trugón ‘turtledove’ and * trugón ‘stingray’ merged into one single word.

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Gr. τρυγών ‘1. turtledove; 2. stingray (fish)’: one word or two words?