>I don't understand. Any inherited word in Albanian shows the effects
>of
>all the old sound changes (if applicable in a given case) down to the
>Roman period. What else would you expect? Now, if you could
>demonstrate
>that Romanian words of substratal origin _fail_ to show some of the
>expected traces of changes datable to the Roman period, that would
>have
>interesting implications as regards their age. But I don't see
>anything
>of the kind.
I think that you didn't want to see them...
I. PAlb a: > o finished before Roman Arrival in Balkans but there
are words in Romanian containing an 'a' that clear reflect a
PAlb 'a:' with their counterparts in Albanian showing the normal 'o'.
I already gave you these examples but seems that you skip them
because they not fit your model.
Rom raTa /ratsa/ 'duck' - Alb. rosë 'id.' - PALb ra:t(s)ja
Rom mazãre 'pea' - Alb. modhullë 'id.' - PALb ma:dzula
Lat 'a:' give always 'a' in Albanian (ma:lum for Alb. mollë was a
wrong example because it cannot be linked to the Balkan Romance where
the form was me:lum)
For more details see my message:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/35216
So these words are Older in Romanian than the Romans arrival in
Balkans showing that Substratum of Romanian Language pre-existed and
is older than the Romanian Main-layer : the Latin.
II. The second different treatement older than the Latin treatement
is :
PAlb *wa - Alb va - Rom. o
samples:
PAlb *wala - Alb vallë - Rom oare 'really?maybe?'
PAlb *walwo: - Alb. valle - Rom. hora 'circular dance'
(despite your reserves all the facts shows that: 'vatra' is not from
*w+a:tra but from *(s)wai-a:tra > *weotra/*weatra (a:>o;Tosk:lost of
a length: a:>a) -> Alb votër~vatër <-> Rom/Arom 'va' with clear 'e'-
traces in both dialects: Rom. pl.'vetre',Arom.sg.var. 'veatra'
reflecting original *wea)
see my message:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/35436
in contrast Latin loans in Romanian and Albanian shows:
Lat. va > Alb. va - Rom. va
Only the Best,
Marius