Re: Sp. bata (was Re: oldest places- and watername in Scandinavia)

At 10:55:14 PM on Sunday, November 9, 2008, Daniel J. Milton
wrote:

[...]

> DICCIONARIO DE LA LENGUA ESPAÑOLA
> http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/ says bata is "del fr. ouate".
> In turn Wiktionary http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ouate
> informs me this means "cotton wool" and is possibly from
> Egyptian (sorry, can't copy the Arabic), to lay, to place.

Not Egyptian, but Egyptian Arabic; <wad.a`a>, I think.

Brian