Re: [tied] IE place-name suffixes?

A Common IE toponymic suffix seems to be the widespred *iH2- ( -a:, -i:, -ya(:), -iya(:) ), cf. Makedonia, Apulia, Calabria, Placentia. But I don't know if its wide distribuitions points to a PIE origin or a simpler Graeco-Roman influence. It´s more usual in region names than city names.

----- Original Message -----

From: Pavel Lurje

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 7:54 PM

Subject: [tied] IE place-name suffixes?

Dear collegues.

I'm now examining a very active Iranian place-name suffix -a:na, -ana (New Persian -a:n, e.g. Tehra:n or Esfaha:n). Maybe, it is some rather old contamination of different suffixes and endings, such as patronymia in -ana, verbal Nomina Loci in -na and thematic Gen. Pl. in -a:na:m, maybe not.

With my minimal knowledge of Indoeuropaean studies I tried to find any corresponding place-name suffigia in other IE languages (it can be IE *-a(:)no-, *-e(:)no- or *-o(:)no-), but with minimal success. (German: Brehmen, Muenchen or Saarbruecken are merely plural, or not?)

I'm very interested if you can name me something similar in other groups of IE languages, or if you can state there are no correspondences of this suffix (in it's toponymical usage) in the fellow-languages of IE family.

Will be grateful for any suggestions, references of www-links.

Best regards,

Pavel Lurje.