07-07-03 21:12, Abdullah Konushevci wrote:
> It seems that you agree that Alb. <qarr> 'oak' is derived form Lat.
> quernus (a substantivised adjective), even that you are aware of
> assimilation in distance of labiovelars in Italo-Celtic and
> Illyrian/Albanian.
> I didn't except nothing better.
Dear Abdullah,
Labiovelar assimilation at a distance certainly took place in Italic and
Celtic. I'm not so sure about Illyrian (it would help if we had some
Illyrian vocabulary to work with), but what you say is _not_ true about
Albanian. For example, <pesë> 'five' clearly shows that no assimilation
took place in *penkWe (as opposed to Lat. quinque, OIr. cóic).
Pre-Albanian *kW would have been palatalised before a front vowel,
yielding modern /s/. Your "special developments" of labiovelars in
Albanian are not supported by any linguistic work and, I'm sorry to say,
have to be dismissed as a private fantasy. On the other hand, the
development of Lat. quernus --> Alb. qarr is completely regular. I have
no doubts what to choose.
Piotr