Re: [tied] Proto-Romance *ve:ci:nus 'neighbour' (was:PIE *kwokt)

>Spanish _vecino_ and French _voisin_ point to *ve:ci:nus (or
>*vici:nus). Interestingly, Pokorny records Latin _ve:cus_ as a
>doublet of the Latin root word _vi:cus_ 'a group of houses'.
>Although Italian _vicino_ appears to derive from _vi:ci:nus_, if I
>remember recent discussions aright, it too could derive from
>*ve:ci:nus.

The form vecos is found in Old Latin (CIL388, plural at CIL1806).
The process is:
*woikos > *weikos > we:cos > vi:cus

The suggestion that the older form survived unchanged in some dialect of
Latin, and resurfaces in the Romance languages, replacing the classical
form, is interesting, but without actual evidence it seems scarcely
believable. Is it better to suggest that vi:cinus > ve:cinus for some
reason, such as dissimilation?

Peter