Peter Kirk wrote:Well, the language could be Zyryan = Komi. But the name used by Liddell, Scott and Jones is closer to "Syrian" and "Syriac", and most of the other 47 hits on "Syrianian" make much more sense if related to Syria and Semitic languages. I accept that "Sirianian" is sometimes used of Zyryan/Komi, but the LSJ spelling is "Syrianian". But if pïš is in fact the Zyryan/Komi word for "hemp" rather than a form of the Syriac word, that is best explained as a contraction of KANNABIS, or else as a coincidence. It seems hardly plausible that the Greeks put together their word for "hemp" from a concatenation of the words in two different languages of remote "barbarian" peoples.
What is "Syrianian"? Only 47 Google hits for this word, including
another discussion of this etymology at
http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/2001/03/0413.php.
And many of the hits are in 19th century works.
See here:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.lang/browse_thread/thread/21d485230a93dc11/
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