--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tolgs001" <george.st@...> wrote:
>> I must admit "sorã" puzzles me. Thank goodness you can
>> assure me it's a loan.
As already hinted, Alex can assure nobody of something else than
its own convictions...
> I myself can't explain the *reduction* to sora [...]
Miguel gave the explanation. It is to be mentioned that in old
Italian texts one has "frate" and "sora" just as in Romanian (the
diminutival derivatives who replaced them in present are newer).
The form "soru" is attested in Old Daco-Romanian texts and left
some trace even in nowdays current language ("soru-mea" `my sister`
is a legitimate form). The same holds for "noru", present in first
Daco-Romanian texts; both words get regularized to feminine ending.
Cheers,
Marius Iacomi