--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" wrote:
> Could somebody help me with the derivation of latin <cotoneus>
> to romanian <gutui>
Lat. "(malum) cotoneus" `quince-tree`, `quince (fruit)` deriving
from the name Cydonia (city in Crete) is a probable ancestor for
Romanian "gutui" (`quince tree/fruit`).
cotoneu(m) > *cutun'u/*gutun'u (Common Romanian) > gutui (DRom.)
Stressed /o/ before /n/ goes regularly to (stressed) /u/ (second).
Unstressed /o/ yields normally /u/ (first).
For the ending, the evolution is perfectly similar to
"calcaneu(s)" > *cãlcãn'u > cãlcâi.
For voicing of /k/ in /g/, the phenomenon is a feature already
noted in AP (78: calatus non galatus) and affects several words
as crassus > gras `fat` or cratis > gratie `lattice bar`. Occasional
voicing of /k/ is noticed over the centuries in Romanian, up till
new words: "(c/g)arafã" < ngr. karáfa, fr. carafe, it. caraffa;
"gâlmã" < sl. chl'UmU, "ghebã" < tc. kebe, "ghiozdan" < tc. cüzdan,
etc.
> Why : <lat. co, cot -> <rom. gu , gut ?
Bad question. For voicing of /k/ see above.
> Maybe <gutui> is not from latin as DEX indicates...
Rather the opposite.
Cheers,
Marius Iacomi