Re: [tied] alb. gji (breast)

The Albanian word is actually (Tosk) gjarpër, (Geg) gjarpën < *serpen-. It's often claimed to be inherited, but if s- > gj- is possible in loans from Latin (as I have suggested), <gjarpër> might well be a loan. If Rom. $arpe derives from *sErpen < *serpen- (cf. nume < no:men), we may be dealing with a special Balkan treatment of <serpens> (generalising the nom.sg. rather than the oblique stem).

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: "alex_lycos" <altamix@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 8:00 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] alb. gji (breast)



> hmmm , Albanian "gjarpë" is given as coming from Latin "serpens,
> serpentis"= snake
>
> OK, Just a moment I have to make a divagation. Why loosing of Latin "n"
> in Romanian and Albanian ?
> Both languages have words without "n" ( Albanian "gjarpë" ,Romanian
> "Sarpe") like Sanskrit "sarpati", Greek "erpo" and even Latin verb
> "serpere".
> What do we have in Romance?
> Old French sarpent, Italian = serpente, Portuguese= serpente, Spanish
> =serpiente.
> Seing the Sanskrit, Greek, Romanian and Albanian forms without "n" but
> the Romance forms with "n", one will say there is no Latin influence in
> this word neither on Romanian nor in Albanian but these words are words
> in the languages before contact with Latin . What do you mind?
>
> Alex