Talk:vulpes

Non-Canine Canid Etymologies

Some canid etymologies seems quite confusing to the non-linguist. We have two very similar-seeming pairs: Latin 'lupus' (wolf) with the very similar Sanskrit 'lopāśá' (fox); and 'wolf' with the very similar Latin 'vulpes' (fox). In both cases, the wiktionary etymologies seem to give completely separate derivations (i.e. they directly relate 'wulf' and 'lupus', 'vulpes' and 'lopāśá', with no interactions between the pairs. As described, any similarities are completely accidental). Is this really the case? Or is it possible that there was some crosstalk between the two, perhaps if earlier populations occupied areas where one of the two groups (wolves or foxes) was absent or rare?--Urilarim (talk) 00:36, 22 May 2021 (UTC)