Re: Romanian _abur_

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham" wrote:

>> For Romanian abur <-> Alb avull, Hamp indicated < PIE
>> *n.bh(u)lo from PIE root nebh- 'fog' [with n.>a in Early-PAlb]
>
> The problem I see is that the *b has not dropped in *Albanian*.

Actually, Rom. <abur(e)> has uncleared origin. Some Romanian
linguists proposed that /b/ was exceptionally preserved in order
to avoid a potential unpleasant homonymy with <aur> `gold`. Of
course, Latin <vapor> could also have had some influence on a
local substrate word.

> The preservation of /b/ in _aibã_ is an Eastern Romance issue, not
> just a Romanian one. The corresponding form is _abbia_ in Italian,
> again with unexpected preservation of /b/. Some of the simple past
> forms of this verb also preserve /b/ in Italian - 1s. _ebbi_, 3s
> _ebbe_ and 3pl. _ebbero_.

In the paradigm of <avea>, the labials are mostly analogically
restored, there is no need of any additional hypothesis.

Regards,
Marius Iacomi