Whatever was the original meaning of IE *sneigwh-, it is clear that it already meant ‘snow’ in the time of Indo-European community. Words of that group are to be found in all branches of Indo-European except Hittite, Albanian, Armenian, and Tocharian (of which in any case the recorded vocabulary is small).
page 449 note 1Communication from Professor W. B. Henning.
page 449 note 2According to a communication from Professor W. B. Henning this may represent snaēžāna-, i.e. a present participle of snaēžaiti beside snaēžant-.
page 449 note 3Willman-Grabowska, H. (‘Le chien dans l'Avesta et dans les Védas’, Rocznik Orjenialistyczny, VIII,[for] 1931–2, [pub.] 1934, 57–8)Google Scholar translates this word, as applied to a wolf, ‘écumant de bave’, as applied to a dog, ‘caressant’, but without offering any reasons for the latter.
Pisani, V. (‘Avest. snaēžana’, Rivista degli Studi Orientali, XV, 1935, 364)Google Scholar supports Willman-Grabowska and compares (1) ‘geifernd’ with OSlav. ‘snowy’ and (2) ‘caressant’ with OSlav. ‘carezzevole’, which he equates as a form without initial s- with Skt. snihyati ‘is affectionate’, snigdhá- ‘oily, soft, dear’, snehaḥ ‘grease, love’, and refers to Miklosich, Etym. Wb. der slav. Spr., Wien, 1886, 215.
page 451 note 1Mr. A. Master kindly drew my attention to these.