Nantu = Paleo-European

From: fournet.arnaud
Message: 49746
Date: 2007-09-01

I am now  (about) definitively convinced
Nant- is not PIE nor Celtic.
 
(macro-comparative) Root *nant?-
Reflex in PIE : *nâ (Cf. Pokorny 971-2)
Reflex in Paleo-European : *nant?  
 
Pokorny s-nâ mixes two roots :
*nant? : flow, wet, river, etc
*nagh : swim, float (Cf. Greek ne:kho:)
 
You probably won't believe that H2 may have more than one value
in fact, they are 8 H2 (and two H1).
 
Paleo-European :
Bask : *nant?-s > lats "river"
Bask * nant?-an > haran "valley" (dissimilation is an explanation)
Etruscan : *nant?-i > neri "river" (metaphony a_i > e_i)
Loanword : *nant? > "Celtic" nant-
LAte Celtic probably discarded the glottalic feature.
 
Cf. Bask ur water as compared with PIE *ud < ut?
 
PIE s-nâ
Irish snu:ad "river"
 
The fact that Irish has not borrowed this Paleo-European word
probably has something to tell us about where Irish was,
as compared to other Celtic languages.
Probably more at the North of Celtic continental area.