On 2007-06-07 22:37, Rick McCallister wrote:
> Any possible link to Latin populus? i.e. if it is a
> reduplication < *pol-, *pul- or even *pOlp-?
I don't think so. Lat. populus (arch. poplus) looks like a Sabellic loan
(cf. Umbr. poplos), so it may well be PIE *kWekWlos, which would explain
the /o/ (Sabellic *kWe- > *kWo- > po-). The meaning would have evolved
from 'wheel, circle' to 'something that surrounds, a ring of people' -->
'assembly, multitude', as in Greek, where <kuklos> may mean such things.
Piotr