> > OHG tepih, teppich (German Teppich); perhaps related to Greek
> > tápe:s,
>
> via Latin: tap(p)etum > OHG tep(p)ih > MHG tep(p)ich, tebech.
>
But with NWBlock (individuating?) suffix *-k, cf. Da. tæppe id.
Otherwise
Late Latin tappitus, tap(p)etum ->
MLg tappët, teppet, OHG teppid "carpet, tapestry"
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/austronesian/message/4437
T. Pedersen
"
from Hubschmid: Sardische Studien (on substrate words)
*tappa
Calabr. tappa "zolla erbosa"
Dauph. tapa "surface à gazon court et serré"
*tippa
Abruzz. teppa "piota, zolla"
Cat. tepa
Frprov. tepa "étendue gazonée"
so, in all cases something compact and matted, with vegetable fibres.
"
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/austronesian/message/3349
Waruno Mahdi
"
The problem is only, that _tapa_ only has this phonological form and
the appropriate meaning ('barkcloth dyed or painted on one side') in
Tongan and Samoan. It was assigned by Dempwolff to that same *tambang
we have been discussing earlier, together with Futuna, Samoan _tafa_
'to turn over onto the other side' (auf die andere Seite umkehren),
Fiji _tamba_ 'side, adversary party'(Seite, Gegenpartei), and Sa'a
_apa_ 'side'.
"
Mahdi doesn't consider the option that they may be relic forms.
Torsten