From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 6431
Date: 2001-03-07
----- Original Message -----From: a96_aeu@...Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 4:03 PMSubject: [tied] Re: Albanian- Does it mean that there is a connection between the words "thellë" and "shpellë" (cavern, hollow) ?I don't know the etymology of <shpellë>, but it's difficult not to suspect that it is Latin spe:laeum 'cave' (from Greek spe:laion). Hardly a native word, since Proto-Albanian *sp- would have developed into f-. I'll check it later.
- Then may I suggest that even Diell (Sun) which is to be met even in the form of "Dje-" as in "e djelë" (sunday), or as some Albanians pronounce it "Djell´" also derives from *dje:- or *dih2- and not from *sh2ul-) > *swel-
In this case the sun root would be freed for "(h)yll".
But the diphthong <ie/je> in this word represents old *e, not *e: (which would have given Alb. o), *eu (> Alb. e) or *ih2 (> Alb. i). The derivation *s(h2)wel- > diell is generally accepted because it involves no unjustified steps or ad hoc explanations. Even *sw- > d-, though strange-looking, is a regular change in Albanian. I have already summarised the problematic aspects of *su:l- > (h)yll (because of which linguists tend to abandon this etymology).Piotr
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