Re: [tied] Italian quello, questo

On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:47:38 -0400 (EDT), Andrew Jarrette
<anjarrette@...> wrote:

>Speaking of Italian qu- as the group has been, I was wondering if anyone knew the origin of <qu-> in Italian <quello> "that", <questo> "this", presumably from Latin <ille, illud> and <iste, istud> with <qu> prefixed. Does anyone know the origin of <qu-> in these Italian words?

It's shortened from *accu(m), an emphatic particle, as in
Port. aquele, Sp. aquel, OSp. aquese, aqueste, Cat. aquell,
aqueix, aquest, Rom. acel, acest, Sard. cuDDu, cussu, custu
etc. In Northern Gaul (ec)ce- was used in the same
function: OFr. (i)cest, (i)cel.

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