Re: [tied] Re: IE cockroach

Hmmm
Unless it were from some grossly deformed version of
scarafaggio
with /f/ > /h/ > /0/ as in dehesa < defensa plus a
reduplicated kV-, and masc to fem,
something like skarafajjo > karahacho > ku-karacha
but that's far-fetched even to me

--- Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister
> <gabaroo6958@...>
> wrote:
>
> > The ending of cucaracha seems suspiciously Italian
> -accia. Are
> > there related words for bugs along the lines of
> *kukara/o- in
> > Sicilian, Calabrese, Napolitano, etc.?
>
>
> I am afraid that most of South and Island Italian
> languages/dialects
> derive their respective principal terms for
> cockroach from Latin
> scarabaeus. These terms are, therefore, cognate to
> Italian
> scarafaggio (which has, in turn, cognates in most of
> Romance
> languages). Scarafaggio is derived fom Latin
> scarabaeus via a
> presumed Greek-like form *scarabaius/*scarafaius >
> *scarabajus/*scarafajus which, though reportedly
> unattested, must
> have existed in Vulgar Latin.
>
> Some examples:
>
> Sicilian scarafaggiu/scavagghiu
> Sardinian scraffioni
> Neapolitan scarrafone
>
> Let me also mention here that a famous Neapolitan
> adage goes
> that "Ogni scarrafone e' bello a mamma soja!" (=
> every cockroach is
> beautiful to its mom, i.e., a child is *always*
> beautiful to his/her
> mother...).
>
> Cheers,
> Francesco
>
>
>
>

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