Piotr:
>The EIEC reconstructs a PIE *pel(i)s 'stone' (there are also apparent
>Indo-Iranian cognates), but notes various morphological >irregularities and
>concludes that the item looks like a non-IE >substrate word.
Should I dare rear up the ugly head of Tyrrhenian again, lest
Piotr smite me with his zealous (although much appreciated)
skepticism :) Well, here we go then...
There is the fact that geographical names with *pala- show up in Europe.
They are possibly related to Etruscan forms in fala- such
as /falas'/, /falau/ and /falica/. I notice that Tyrrhenian
aspirate *p becomes EtruscoLemnian bilabial fricative *f.
A reconstruction of Tyrrhenian *pele "mountain" is tempting. I
would also suggest that there are mythological connections as well
(ie: the mountain that holds up the sky at the center of the world,
the place where gods live, the association with Vulcan and his
very name, etc) which might be the underlying reason for the transference of
such a loan in the first place.
- gLeN
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