>What roused my curiosity in the first place was the similarity between the Greek roots...

which, in turn, roused my gibe. the roots, as you gave, are ostreon and oistros. the roots for comical and comatose are, respectively, komos and koma -- a much closer "pair".

I like to keep in mind that cleave and cleave are not cognates; this keeps me somewhat grounded in my speculations.