--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@> wrote:
> >
> > There seems to be a fair amount of alternation of b/m
> > in Celtic, which occasionally shows up in Romance
> > languages:
> > e.g. Portuguese boneca vs. Spanish muñeca "doll,
> > wrist", originally "lump"
> > About 10 years ago or so there were some posting
> > regarding this --perhaps on this list, or the old IE
> > list but I don't remember which
>
> b > m is Basque too, cf Latin bacillum etc (from some substrate, cf
> b- and /a/ ?), Basque makila "stick", which reminds me, by the way,
> of Sp. bacalao, Pt. bacalhao (approx.!) "codfish", from Basque, vs.
> Germ. Stockfisch, Du stokvis "dried fish, especially cod". If the
> bakal- part corresponds to stok-, does the rest mean "fish" (in
> whichever way)? Basque experts?
Tada!
Aikio: 'An essay on substrate studies and the origins of Saami' has
'loahkka' "torsk", ie "codfish" as a non-etymologizable substrate word
(among many other anamal, including fish, names) of North Saami. My
knowledge of Finnish-Saami historical linguistics is non-existent, but
he does supply a similar substrate word in Saami 'gouvssat' "Lapland
jay", in Finn. dial. 'kuusanka', whether hat is loaned directly from
that substrate or from North Saami.
Dansk Etymologisk Ordbog:
lange "the codfish species Molva Vulgaris" [ ie. "ling"
http://ca.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_762509212/ling.html ]
ODa., No. id. Sw. långa, ON langa, side form Germ. Länge, Dui. leng,
ling (whence Fr. lingue), Engl. ling, der. from 'lang' ["long"]
Somehow I doubt that last piece of information.
So: bakal-lank- "stick codfish" adopted into Proto-Basque at some time
(or directly into West European languages?) from some Western
substrate? Does Miguel have any Proto-Basque > Basque objections?
Who invented the whole dried fish technique anyway? I guess it must
have predated salt as a preservation technique?
BTW This is also an answer to Arnaud to his question of gemination
applying also to (seeming) loans into Saami-Finnish.
Torsten