Re: [tied] Re: NEuropean IE for apple

>Actually, the characteristically East Slavic (Ukrainian/Rusyn)

pleophony

>in the word rules out any such fantastic story. Like Polish

<Wol/och>,

>the name must have been originally applied to immigrant

communities

>speaking Romanian. Of course <Vlach>, with the normal

Czech treatment of

>the Germanic loan (cf. Polish Wl/och), referred to

whatever

>Romance-speakers the early Germans and Slavs in these parts

were likely

>to have some knowledge of just before they learnt to

metathesise their

>liquids :), which in the case of the western Slavs

(unlike the eastern

>and southern ones) meant Italians rather than

Romanians. The fact that

>in the centuries that followed their German

neighbours continued to use

>the terms <Walch> and <welsch>

with reference to Italians only

>reinforced the

identification.