Re: park, was *pVs- for cat

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:

>
> > Matasović also mentions French garenne 'rabbit-warren,
> > fishing preserve', dialectal varenne 'wilderness' < Med.
> > Lat. warenna (a feudal law term which designated a hunting
> > preserve), as a possible loanword from Gaulish
> > *war(r)enna:, as a derivated from the above root. Although
> > he sees this etymology as "doubtful", he missed Old Irish
> > ferann, ferenn 'field or grave surrrounded by a hedge or a
> > stone wall' (Coromines), which secures it.
>
> That definition is over-specific. OIr <ferann> is 'land,
> domain, territory, of a definite area, large or small',
> generally used of land possessed by an individual, tribe, or
> nation. The examples in the DIL clearly show this wide
> range of application. OIr <ferenn> is 'a band or thong',
> used of a belt or garter.
>

This reminds me of Old Irish fertae 'mound, tumulus' < Proto-Celtic *wert-ja: 'mound' (Matasović), a root also found in Middle Welsh gwerthyr 'fort' < *wert-ro- and gweryd 'earth, soil, grave' < *wereto-, derived from PIE *Hwer- 'to cover, to close' with a suffix *-t- (e.g. Sanskrit vºrti- 'surrounding, covering; hedge, fence'). Pokorny himself goes to the point of reconstructing a PIE form *wortom 'door'.

Thus it would safer to place Gaulish *verenna: along with Old Irish ferenn < *werono- and feronn, ferann < *werono- as derivated from PIE *Hwer-. Clearly, this etymology can't explain neither the Wanderwort *waranda: nor Proto-Celtic *warra: 'post, prop', which would require a different (if any) PIE etymology.

A good possibility could be *gWer(H)-u- 'spear, spit' > Latin veru:s, Proto-Celtic *beru-, assuming the evolutions gW > w and r(H) > r(r) in the source languages. It's also worth mentioning the West Romance diminutive *berruculu- (Spanish berrojo, Gascon berrolh) 'a wooden or iron bar or bolt placed across gates on the inside', which Coromines though was an alteration of Latin veru:culum, but which IMHO is more likely linked to the Celtic word.