--- In cybalist@..., Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:
>
> Rom. <fir> is simply Latin <fi:lum> "thread". Fata (< feata <
feta) "girl" is
> Latin fe:ta (the feminine of fetus/foetus), and fetelor < fe:tae
illorum. No
> Dacian there.
Fet-us/-a is the past passive participle of PIE *dHei- "suckle". In
the non-transferred sense of "child", ie. "that which is being
suckled" it is, according to the dictionaries I consulted, only known
in poetic language or in the "silver age" writers, ie. later than the
conquest of Dacia. As far as I know it is not used in that sense in
Western Romance. Perhaps that original sense of the word was
transferred back with Dacian POW/slaves (cf. Fin. piika, Sw.
piga "farm labourer", Dan. pige "girl")?
>
>
> =======================
> Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
> mcv@...
Torsten