InnoDB: Error: pthread_create returned 12

Question

have installed MySQL in a particular folder. I was able to run the server and create accounts, databases etc. However, now whenever I try to start the server, I get an error:

$ mysqld_safe --defaults-file=mysql.cnf &
[1] 2002
[compute-0-5 /amber2/scratch/myname/mysql]$ 130725 17:56:24 mysqld_safe Logging to '/amber2/scratch/myname/mysql/data/compute-0-5.local.err'.
130725 17:56:24 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /amber2/scratch/myname/mysql/data
130725 17:56:25 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /amber2/scratch/myname/mysql/data/compute-0-5.local.pid ended

[1]+  Done                    mysqld_safe --defaults-file=mysql.cnf

In the error file inside the data folder:

130725 17:17:53 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /amber2/scratch/myname/mysql/data
2013-07-25 17:17:54 0 [Warning] option 'read_buffer_size': unsigned value 2147483648 adjusted to 2147479552
2013-07-25 17:17:54 0 [Warning] TIMESTAMP with implicit DEFAULT value is deprecated. Please use --explicit_defaults_for_timestamp server option (see documentation for more details).
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Warning] Buffered warning: Changed limits: max_open_files: 1024 (requested 5000)

2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Warning] Buffered warning: Changed limits: table_cache: 431 (requested 2000)

2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Using Linux native AIO
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Not using CPU crc32 instructions
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 128.0M
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
2013-07-25 17:17:54 28189 [Note] InnoDB: Highest supported file format is Barracuda.
InnoDB: Error: pthread_create returned 12
130725 17:17:55 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /amber2/scratch/myname/mysql/data/compute-0-18.local.pid ended

But why am I getting the pthread_create error 12? It seems this is related to not enough space. On the device where the mysql folder (/amnber2//scratch/myname/mysql) resides, I do have space:

$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1              49G  5.0G   41G  11% /
        ...
10.255.255.46:/export/scratch
                       15T   11T  4.2T  72% /amber2/scratch

I also have a few gigs in my home directory quota

$ quota -v
Disk quotas for user myname (uid 41222):
     Filesystem  blocks   quota   limit   grace   files   quota   limit   grace
10.255.255.45:/export/ncms
                22986221  26214400 26214400               0       0       0
10.255.255.46:/export/scratch
                7321108       0       0               0       0       0

i.e., I am using 22G out of 25G:

$ du -sh ~/.
22G /home/ncms/myname/.

I also have free memory:

$ free -mg
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:            62         41         21          0          0         28
-/+ buffers/cache:         12         49
Swap:           64         13         51

In my mysql configuration file:

myisam_sort_buffer_size=4G   
myisam_max_sort_file_size=200G
read_buffer_size=2G

So why am I getting the error pthread_create error while starting the server?