pīsäl

Tocharian B

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pésl̥, an l-stem noun derived from the (tentative) root *pes- (“to blow”) (compare Proto-Slavic *paxati (“to sweep”), Old Norse fǫnn (“snowdrift”)), thus meaning originally “that which is blown away”; compare especially Old High German fesa (“chaff”) from the same root. Or alternatively cognate with Sanskrit बुस (busa, “chaff, refuse grain; rubbish”) and perhaps Latin furfur (“chaff, bran; flaky skin”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰus-, but with phonetic difficulties.

Noun

pīsäl m

1. chaff, husk

References

• Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “pīsäl”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 417