22-06-03 21:58, Michael J Smith wrote:
> Also, what is the etymology of Hercynia and Orcynia, are they Celtic
> words?
It's supposed to be Celtic, from *perkWu-, as in Lat. quercus 'oak'
(akin to English <fir>!) and the characteristically Celtic lenition of
the initial: *p- > *h- > zero (in the derivative *perkWu-h1n-ih2 or
similar, cf. Goth. faírguni 'mountain'). To be sure, one would normally
expect *p...kW to have undergone assimilation into *kW...*kW in Celtic
(as in Italic), but the failure of an assimilation-at-a-distance rule to
be 100% regular is perhaps excusable.
Piotr