-andr-, -nd-

Hans Kuhn identifies a layer of non-IE river etc names he
calls "the other Old Europe", concentrated in his Nordwestblock, but
with a thin line along the coast north to Scandinavia. One of th
characteristic suffixes is -andr-. He shows that 60% of the rivers
with -andr- have matching first elements among Krahe's supposedly IE
Old Europe river names in -nt-/-nd-.

Since Basque has both 'andere' "lady" and 'andje'(Löpelmann) "young
lady" I thought I might try to match the first elements with Proto-
Vasconic, as Miguel reconstructs it. Since it is possible that the
river names have participated in the developments of Proto-Vasconic
to Pre-Basque, I've sometimes matched with later stages than Proto-
Vasconic. As for semantics, Basque has a habit of using words
like 'lady' for sea creatures, so why not imagine rivers names from
an eponymous mermaid? Anyway, here goes:


*Harendre. unkn. prob. near Brussels

Basque harr "stone, rock" <-
*kar- "stone" (known from other toponyms too)


Kaldern (at Marburg)
Callendorn (Overijsel)/Collendoorn)
Hellendoorn
Collandre (dep. Eure)

German Halde "slope"
Basque alda "slope, side of a mountain"
Basque althe "front or back side (textile), neighborhood"
Basque (h)alde "side, area"

Note that the Nordwestblock k/h alternation follows the hypothetical
Pro-Vasconic development k > h > Ø, cf
Placenames:
Kersne (Zerssen at Rinteln) vs Heerse
Künsebach (W of Bielefeld) vs Hunse
Keflike (at Brilon) vs Heflike

According to Kuhn, Kald-/Hald-(Iald- is an important name element in
the area of the Ubii:
Personal names
Caldinius (4 times)
Caldivius
Haldania
Haldavva
Haldavvonius
Challinius
Ialdania
Placename:
*Caldiniacum -> Keldenich


Sumandria > Semandre (ENE of Cambrai)

Basque sun "deep" (whick Löpelmann derives from s^okon ??)
Basque sume "beam" (timber)


Malandry (S of Carignan on the Maas)

Basque mala "fortgeschwemmte Erde, Schlamm", ie "river deposit, mud"


Vardes (at Neufmarché on the Epte, Seine inf.) < Warandr-

Basque bara "Haltepunkt, Längsholz einer Schranke, Holzknüttel, den
mam dem Vieh als Hindernis umhängt", in other a bar, barrier or
impediment
Basque bara-dera "fish weir"
Nordwestblock 'bar' and 'park', 'paddock' (r > d). Note the
characteristic Nordwestblock -k- suffix on the latter.


Nassandre (dep. Eure)

Basque nasa "wide, broad"


Visandre (Seine et Marne)

Basque beltz "black" -> *bes- ?

I'm not happy with this one.


*Savandr-/*Savindr- -> Zevender

Basque zabal "wide, broad, open, long"

but what happened to -al?


*Arandr-/*Arindr- > Erintra -> Ehrental (on the Rhine)

Basque (h)are "sand", supposedly (Löpelmann) from Latin arena "sand",
but that has /a/ and may itself be a loanword, most likely from a
coast language; in general I'm impressed with the tendency of Basque
to loan Latin words in /a/, which makes one wonder about the
direction of the loan.


*Is-andra -> IJzendoorn (Gelderland)

Basque *is- "water"
This much disputed reconstructed glosss is accepted by Vennemann, but
rejected by others.


Sal-indr- -> Salindre

Basque sari "lime tree"
Basque sarika "willow"
The latter is supposedly borrowed from Latin salic- "willow", but
that Latin gloss has /a/ and is matched with Swedish sälg "willow",
which therefore ... see previous entry

Tar-andr-
I've given up finding a match for this one.


I suppose I'll have to leave it to others to judge whether these
naming elements are river'like enough. Subjectively speaking, I've
found them easy to find.


Torsten