Re: [tied] hal

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 13987
Date: 2002-07-12

 
----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 1:46 PM
Subject: [tied] hal

> They produced salt in the area around Halle (in Thuringia, Germany).
There is an ancient salt mine in Bad Hallein, Austria.

> Celtic doesn't have *s- -> *h- (like Greek), or? Might there be
another candidate laguage in that area with that development?

Brittonic Celtic (Welsh, Cornish, Breton) does have this change! The Welsh for 'salt' is <halen> (cf. OIr. salann). In inscriptional Gaulish *s is preserved as <s>, but since Gaulish and Brittionic are close relatives, it's quite possible that some of the continental dialects treated their *s's in the Bryttonic way, and this indeed has been argued to explain the <hal-> toponymy.
 
Piotr