Joao wrote:
>Since we are talking about Lusitanian toponyms, what's the etymology of
>Lisboa (Lisbon) < Olisipona ? The same as -bona in Vindobona? What's the
>explanation of this -bona ?
>Folk-etymology related Olisipona from Ulysses.
It should belong instead to a series of toponyms including *Cedripo
(inscr.), *Cantnipo (inscr.), Usaepo (Plin.) and Acinippo (Ptol., Plin.),
Baesippo (2, Ptol., Plin.), Belippo (Plin.), Blacippo (Plin.), Lacippo
(Ptol.), Orippo (Plin.), Ostippo (Plin.), Serippo (Plin.), Ventippo
(Plin.), all in Baetica or southern Lusitania.
The -ona ending should be mainly a later latinization of the name, coming
from a generalization of the oblique case.
Former scholars related them to Hippo, town-names in northern Africa, for
the supposed relationship between Iberians and Berbers, basically.
But most of these place-names could have an IE etymology (at least Vent-,
Bel-, Lac-, Ost- and Baes- for sure), sharing an /o/ feature, as Olosipo
(Str.)/Oliosipo (Ptol.)
Recently, these names have been attributed to an IE "Tartessian", and
related to some Anatolian appellative meaning 'town' or whatever.
I don't think a Celtic origin can be excluded (compare Ventippo and Venta
(Bri), Acinippo belonged to Celtici tribe, etc.), probably some of you will
try to find an etymology for this appellative.
For the first part, it could be an *Olosa, that could be fitted by at least
two IE roots (one is the *el-/ol- we have discussed).
The suffix of this is shared with several place-names in Hispania and
southern Gallia, like Dertosa, Tolosa, Egosa, Libisosa, Metercosa, Succosa
etc. Most of them can have an IE etymology, but some of them could also be
explained if a Basque-Iberian connection is postulated, as often has been done.
Another (not so)folk-etymology of Olisipona is from Phoenician Alis Ubbo or
something, meaning 'beautiful port', as I found somewhere on the net.
Antonio Sciarretta