It is probable then that there is a triple popular etymology in the various forms of writing the name Assur; viz.
The names of their fathers are alike, and "Lugman" means devourer, swallower, a meaning which might be got out of Balaam by a popular etymology.
The popular etymology of the name Tabriz from tab=fever, riz = pourer away (verb, rikhtan = pour away, flow; German rieseln?), hence "fever-destroying," is erroneous and was invented in modern times.
Worms was known in Roman times as Borbetomagus, which in the Merovingian age became Wormatia, afterwards by popular etymology connected with Wurm, a dragon.
The copious additional information given by later writers is all by way either of interpretation of local legends in the light of Ephorus's theory, or of explanation of the name "Pelasgoi"; as when Philochorus expands a popular etymology "stork-folk" (w€Xaa'yoi-- it €Xap'yoi) into a theory of their seasonal migrations; or Apollodorus says that Homer calls Zeus Pelasgian "because he is not far from every one of us," 6TL Tiffs ryes 7rEXas EaTCV.
