Re: [tied] Re: to swell

Richard Wordingham wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex" <alxmoeller@...> wrote:
>> Italian word "gonfio", French "gonfle"
>> I could find out the Latin "inflare" but wehre from is this "g"
> here in
>> Romance?
>
> Try Latin confla:re 'to blow up, kindle, light' (look it up at
> http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform?lang=la - my trusty
> pocket dictionary doesn't give the sense 'blow up', which can arise
> very easily from the meaning of fla:re 'blow; coin').
>
> Sporadic confusion of /k/ and /g/ seems to be common cross-
> linguistically.
>
> Richard.

Thank you Richard.
The change "fl" > "?fi" is usual in Italian but not in Rom. There is a
family of words in Rom. which appears to derive from the same root with
the curious reduction of "fl" to "f", the change of "con" to "gâm-"
instead of expected "cu-" + a very special semantic meaning. I assume
there is something else as Latin here "confl:are":

îngâmfa=vr to put on airs
îngâmfare=sf conceit(edness); cu îngâmfare haughtily
îngâmfat=sm peacock, coxcomb ;adj self-satisfied; haughty, conceited,
supercilious; vain;adv haughtily

Alex