--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> German <Late>, <Lite> (note odd vowel alternation) "serf(?)", known
> mainly from Lower Saxony, ie Nordwestblock; Medieval Latin
<laetus>,
> thus *lait-, *le:t- (claims Kuhn). He further compares with
> Langobardian (in Latin) <aldius>, <aldio>.
>
> Note the "detachable /a/". That means, I conclude, it's a "bird
> language" (and therefore "Old European") root. If this root is a
self-
> name of the Nordwestblockers (subjugated by the Germani from Th...)
> we have a handle on the origin of these people.
>
Looked it up in Brockhaus. It has
<Liten>, <Laten>, <Leten> <Lassen>, <Lassiten>, <Lassi>, <Lazzi>,
<Lati>, <Liti>
Apart from various Latin suffixes, note the /t/:/ss/ alternation.
This is not Low : High German, that would give /t/:/ts/ alternation.
It reminds one of Catti : Chatti : Hessen, thus /tt/:/ss/ alternation
Kuhn notes elsewhere (he notes it /tt/ > /ss/ occurs in Celtic,
Italic and Germanic, so why not in Nordwestblock.
The Lassiten were Halbfreie, "die meist rechts- und vermögensfähig,
aber dienst- und zinspflichtig und an die Scholle gebunden sowie ohne
polit. Rechte waren", thus with property rights, above serfs, below
free men. "Doch konnten jene Halbfreien, deren Herr der König war, so
weit aufsteigen, dass sich der Adel aus ihnen ergänzte
(Ministerialen)". They participated in the colonisation of the former
Slav territories in Eastern Germany.
The status of the Lassiten was abolished in Prussia in 1850(!)
I wonder if the name is connected to that of Lithuanians and Latvians?
Torsten