Re: Romanian senin

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex_lycos" <altamix@...> wrote:

> richard.wordingham@... wrote:
> > This is inspired by Message 17515
> > What does Romanian 'senin' mean? (I
> > don't have access to an
> > English-Romanian dictionary.). Why
> > does Latin 'sere:nus' yield Romanian
> > 'senin' rather than 's&nin'? ('&'
> > represents 'short 'a''.)
> > Richard
> >
>
> "senin":
> sn clear sky; (fig) serenity; "din senin" out of the blue
> adj cloudless; serene; (fara nori) clear

Thanks.

> An another question regarding this word should be the fact r > n
> It is accepted that there existed the rhotacism where n > r, it

seems

> Rom. Lang know a "notacism" too.

I have a horrible feeling that r > n is subject to a lot of
irregularity, but it would be nice to hear if there are any workable
rules.

> (keep in mind there should have been "serenu" like "ventu" and the

word

> should have been "sãrân".
> maybe is not latin or a late loan:-)

Yes, the consonant change affected the subsequent development of the
stressed vowel.

> Let us joke a bit:
> We know that there is a change m=b in the ancient names of the

rivers.

> For instance Tibiscum > TimiS.
> In the rothacised form, the word "bine"=good was written "bire". If

we

> take b=m, then bire= mire
> But "mirë" is the albanian word for "good". Is albanian "mirë" a

Latin

> loan?:-)

I'd sooner believe a back formation from Latin melior 'better'!
Initial b > m is *very* rare, though /?b/ > /m/ is attested. I'd
sooner attribute the /b/ in 'Tibiscum' to a heavy cold or to the
influence of 'Tiber', but other factors, such as popular etymology,
may be responsible.

Richard.