On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 15:12:29 +0000, tgpedersen <
tgpedersen@...>
wrote:
>Here's the interesting part: it turns out that Basque -tz-
>corresponds to Aquitanian <-x->, presumably -ks-
Certainly not /ks/.
>(BTW for some odd
>reason the French Basques still spell -x- for -tz-)
They don't.
>haritz, Arixo "oak"
>-belex, beltz "black"
>Berhax-, beratz "soft, benign"
>Bihox-, Bihos-, bihotz "heart"
The spelling is actually quite random:
Basque Aquitanian examples:
z ss (gizon) cisson
s (gizon) cison
(zahar) sahar
tz x (haritz) arixo
(beltz) belex
(bihotz) bihox
s (beltz) beles
(bihotz) bihos
(bortz) bors
(hartz) hars
s s (neskato) nescato
(seme) sembe
(sehi) seni
ts s (herauts) heraus
x (otso) oxo
xs (otso) oxson
ss (otso) osso(n)
Trask: "The unsystematic fluctuation among <s>, <ss>, <x> and <xs> strongly
suggests that Aq. had more contrating sibilants than could be accomodated
in the Roman alphabet [] It appears that the otherwise unneeded <x> was
pressed into service to deal with some of the Aq. sibilants, but that no
consistent system of transcription was achieved"
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...