Re: [tied] Re: Six, -ts- > -ks-

On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:19:52 +0000, tgpedersen
<tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>Vennemann: Etymology and Phonotactics: Latin <grandis> vs. Basque
><handi> 'big' and similar Problems attempts among other things to
>derive French <chamois>, German <Gemse>, Late Latin <camox>, Basque
><ahuntz> 'goat, chamois' from a reconstructed proto-Vasconic (*kab-
>untz >)*kamuntz (*kanuntz > *anu(n)tz (Michelena) > ahuntz).

That's my etymology, sort of. ahuntz < *kamons.

>The only problem here is with Latin <-x>, presumably /-ks/. He cites
>the Aquitanian words with /x/ for Basque /tz/ as support
>that "Vasconic *-ts (Basque -tz) could be borrowed into Latin as -x".
>He adds further with the same ending reconstructed Vasconic *izu(n)ts
>as the source of Latin <isox>/<esox> "a Rhine fish, prob. salmon".
>
>He comments on the Aquitanian names: "Whether this only represents
>graphic attempts at rendering Aquitanian pronunciations adequately or
>whether occasional sound substitutions, namely of [ks] for [ts] are
>involved, seems hard to decide."
>One might even imagine Low Latin acc. <kamotse>, nom. <kamots>. But I
>think life would be easier for Vennemann's reconstruction *kamuntz if
>it were *kamunks.

Well, it isn't. Basque -tz is merely the word-final variant
of -s. I see no real difficulty in imagining that this
fortis final -S (-ss, -ts) wound up in Latin as -x in words
such as camox (I don't think the word was borrowed directly
from Basque anyway).

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...