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EALL (Shahîd, “Latin Loanwords”): from Lat
veredus ‘thill horse’; from this, the meaning developed, in Ar, into ‘post horse; courier; stage’ and today's ‘mail’.
▪ Cf., however, Rolland2014a/2022: For Kazimirski, the word is Pers.
1
But its origin is still being discussed.
2
Traditionally, it was regarded to go back to Pers
burīdah dum ‘with shortened tail’,
3
a term used for postal mules and, by extension, messengers and the postal system. But this etymology is prob. more popular than learned. Some, quoted by Nourai,
4
would derive the term from Phlv
burtan ‘emporter’, related to Av
bar ‘porter, monter à cheval’, IE *
bʰer ‘porter’. For Rajki, it is via ByzGrk ϐέρεδος
béredos from lLat
veredus ‘postal horse’, accord. to Ernout and Meillet borrowed from gaulois, IE *
reidʰ- ‘to ride’. It may be the other way round, however. The existence of names for equids coined from √BRD/PRD in several Sem languages (Hbr
pirdah ‘mule’, Akk
perdum ‘[still unidentified equid]’
5
), associated with oPers
pirradaziš ‘service (de transport) rapide’ in the Persepolis tablets points, if not to a Sem but at least to a Mesopotamian origin of both,
barīd and Lat
veredus. But there remain many missing links that would bridge the huge gap in time and space separating the Mesopotamian and the Ar and Lat words.
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