From: Tavi
Message: 69076
Date: 2012-03-27
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "fournet.arnaud" <fournet.arnaud@...> wrote:
>Not really. Basque mendi comes from Paleo-Basque *bendi, with regular nasalization of *b- due to the following nasal.
> (By the way Bask has mendi for mountain : a probable Celtic loanword)
>
This is an old substrate root *pant-/*pent- also found in toponymy as *pend-/*penn- (e.g. Pennines, Apennines), as well as in Celtic *bendo- 'peak, top' and Germanic *pint-/*pinn- 'point'. Forms with /a/ can be found in Iberian toponymy (Pando, Panti-cosa) as well as in Basque patar 'steep slope'.
Of course, the usual reconstruction of this as a "PIE root" *bend- is grossly inadequate.
Interestingly, there's a similar Vasco-Caucasian root (NEC *be:nggwa 'rock, mountain; ravine') which can be found in e.g. Spanish peña 'crag, rock' < *penna and possibly also in Greek pétra 'stone, rock'.