On 2006-07-26 18:32, Joao S. Lopes wrote:
> What's the explanation for the source of Latin ficum and Greek sykon,
> "fig" ?
>
> sykon < *dHyu:kom ? > fiu:cum > fi:cum ?
>
> Is there any another word cognate of them?
> This word has cognates in another language?
<sû:kon> has a Boeotian variant, <tû:kon>, suggesting *[T] in the donor
language; that would fit the evidence of Latin and roughly match Arm.
t'uz 'fig'. It's apparently a loan from somewhere in the Near East, but
I don't know if the exact source has been identified. Cf. also
<su:kámi:non> 'mulberry-tree; fig-mulberry (Ficus sycomorus)', with some
NW Semitic connections (in Hebrew and Aramaic, e.g. Aram. pl. s^iq&min,
Hebr. s^ikmi:m 'mulberries'). Of course the word may be a loan in
Semitic as well.
Piotr