Re: [tied] Lat. Rivus

On Fri, 6 Sep 2002 06:46:11 +0200, alexmoeller@... wrote:

>I think this word is too an intersting one.
>In all romance language it seems this word is the one who is
>the word for the actualy word "river"
>Question for spanish speakers:
>In romanian it is said that the "v" betwen two vowels
>sincoped. Example lat. rivus>rom. râu
>Does in spanish too the rule applies? I thinq now at spanish
>Rio, this why I ask.

The rule does not apply in Spanish. The case of río dates from further back,
when <v> was pronounced /w/. In the word rivum (/riwu~/), the sequence /wu/ was
simplified to /u/: /riu~/", then /u/ > /o./ giving /rio/. (Eng. river < Fra.
rivière < Lat. riparia is a different word).

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...