--- In cybalist@..., "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
> 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?
Common Celtic doen't, but Welsh does, e.g. hen 'old' < PIE *sen-,
chwaer 'sister' < *swesor, chwech 'six' < *sweks. It didn't always
happen, eg. saith 'seven' < *septm.
However, apart from it being a potential Celtic change, this is
probably a red herring. The change is late enough for English to
preserve 's' in the River Severn, Latin Sabrina, but Welsh Hafren.
Richard.
P.S. I'm sending this even though Piotr pipped me to the post while I
was trying to remember the Welsh for salt!