--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "fournet.arnaud" <fournet.arnaud@...>
wrote:
>
> It is Vennemann's contention that Proto-Vasconic did
> once have initial clusters and that eg. *sCV- > zV-
> A.F
> What examples can you give ?
>
Vennemann:
Etymologische Beziehungen im Alten Europa, in
Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica.
"
7.6.24. Schenkel, ae. sceanca; Schinken
Bei Kluge/Seebold heißt es zu Schenkel: "Mhd. schenkel, mndt.
schinkel, mndl. sc(h)enkel; Diminutivum zu ae. sceanca, mndt. schinke
'Schenkel' (es kann auch ein Diminutivum zu Schinken ... mitgewirkt
haben). Hierzu vielleicht mit dissimiliertem Anlaut ai. sákthi n.
'Schenkel'. Vermutlich zu einer Grundlage mit der Bedeutung 'schräg',
die in anord. skakkr 'hinkend, schief erhalten wäre." Letzteres wird
des weiteren mit hinken usw. verbunden.
Meines Erachtens sollte bask. zango 'Fuß, Bein'127 (de Azkue)
verglichen werden; ferner sanga, sango, sanka, sankho, s.ango, s^ango,
s^anko 'Fuß, Bein [usw.]' (Löpelmann)128, dazu dort s^ungo
'Hinterkeule (Hammel, Pferd)', das semantisch gut zu dt. Schinken,
Schunke paßt. Urvaskon. +skanko 'Fuß, Bein' wäre eine gute Grundlage
sowohl für die indogermanischen (wohl vor allem oder ausschließlich
germanischen) Lehnwörter als auch für die baskischen Wörter, letzteres
nach der Lautregel +sk > s / #___, allgemeiner +sP > s / #___für
Plosive, P = p, t, k (das Baskische erlaubt ja keine
Anlautgruppen).129 Bask. s~anku 'hinkend' (de Azkue) dürfte durch
diminuierende Palatalisierung zu zango 'Fuß, Bein' gebildet sein.
Offenbar ist eine alte, entsprechende Ableitung mit dem [86 Fuß-Wort
ins Germanische entlehnt worden, wo sie in an. skakkr (+skanka-)
'hinkend, schief erhalten ist.
127. Die Bedeutung schwankt regional wie auch bei dt. Fuß, das im
Süddeutschen weithin soviel wie 'Bein' bedeutet.
128. Löpelmann leitet das Wort aus dem Romanischen her; aber die
angeführten romanischen Wörter haben ihm zufolge selbst keine gute
Etymologie, so daß ich sie umgekehrt als aus dem Baskischen entlehnt
betrachte.
129. Im Finnischen findet sich dies bei Entlehnungen der älteren Zeit,
doch ist es nur für st- exemplifiziert; vgl. J. Koivulehto,
Reallexikon, Band 9: s.v. Finnland, 1. Sprachliches, S. 85: "Die
Reflexe der germ. Verbindung st im Anlaut vor Vokal: a) frühurfinn.
s-; b) späturfinn. t-. Beispiele: a) finn. (ält., dial.) suota
'läufige Stutenherde, Pferdeherde' < frühurfinn. *so:ta bzw. *so:ða ~
frühgerm. *sto:ða- (vorgerm. *sta:dho-) > ahd. stuot, aschwed. sto:þ
id. [vgl. nhd. Stute, Gestüt]; b) finn. tanko 'Stange' < späturfinn.
*tan,ko ~ germ. *stanga: > anord. sto,ng 'Stange'." Vgl. noch ebd.
"[finn.] saura 'Trockengestell für Heu, Laub; einzelner Pfahl daran' <
*sapra ~ frühgerm. *staura- > anord. staurr 'Pfahl' (frühurfinn. -pr-
statt -vr-, das nicht vorkam).
7.6.26. stinken, got. stigqan 'stoßen'
Dieses Verbum ist gemeingermanisch, wobei freilich die Bedeutungen
weit auseinandergehen. Die Bedeutung im Gotischen wird als
Ausgangsbedeutung betrachtet, andere Bedeutungen als abgeleitet (z.B.
die Bedeutung 'riechen' wie bei etwas stößt mir auf, ein Geruch
schlägt mir entgegen. "Weitere Herkunft unklar" (Kluge/Seebold);
"Etymology unclear" (Lehmann 1986: s.v. stigqan).
Es gibt im Baskischen ein Substantiv zunka 'Stoß mit dem Kopf, den die
Kälber beim Saugen geben' (de Azkue, nur eine Ortschaft im
Labourdinischen), sunka 'Schlag, Stoß', mit Ableitungen, z.B. sunkatu
'stoßen' (Löpelmann). Dem baskischen Wort braucht keineswegs span.
port. galiz. choquer zugrunde zu liegen (Löpelmann), sondern es kann
vaskon. +stunkwa lautgesetzlich fortsetzen (+st- > s- / #___im Zuge
der Vereinfachung aller Anlautgruppen auf einen einzigen
Konsonanten130, und +kw > k). Aus einer solchen Wurzel könnte ein
germanisches +stunkwan gewonnen sein, das im Zuge der Regularisierung
des Verbsystems in die dritte Klasse geriet. Bei Lehmann wird eine
Rekonstruktion von Brugmann zitiert, *stugqan > stigqan, die das
Verbum mit ai. tujáti, tuñjáti 'move quickly, thrust' verknüpfen soll.
Genau diese Entwicklung nehme ich auch an, wobei ich die Frage der
Zugehörigkeit des altindischen Verbs offen lassen möchte.
"
Etymology and phonotactics, ibd.
"
20.2.6. Phonotactic cluster reduction: OE sceanca 'thigh', Bq. zango,
zanko 'leg, foot'
In my 1995c article I compared the etymologically unexplained OE
sceanca, MHG Schenkel (NHG Schenkel) etc. 'thigh' to the likewise
etymologically unexplained Bq. zango (Eastern dialect zank(h)o) 'leg,
foot' and suggested that the difference in the root, +skank- in
Germanic with its initial cluster and zang- in Basque with its single
initial sibilant, might he the effect of phonotactic change in
prehistoric Basque. Historical Basque does not tolerate word-initial
consonant clusters:
*C2/#_____
However, there is no reason to assume that the same is true of
prehistoric Basque. It is known, e.g. from Middle and Modern Korean
(Kwon 1990) and from Old and Middle Indic (Fahs 1989: 30-31), that
languages with word-initial clusters may develop such a constraint
within a few centuries, using several [368 different mechanisms to
implement the new constraint. My 1995c proposal is that Basque reduced
its initial clusters on the basis of the same Consonantal Strength
hierarchy that it used to sequence intervocalic clusters: Of a
word-initial consonant cluster, only the most vowel-like consonant
survives:
Cluster reduction rule (for consonant clusters Z)
PVasc. Z > Cmin / #_____
where Cmin is that consonant in Z whose Consonantal Strength is least
A special case of this rule is the reduction of initial
fricative-plus-plosive clusters FP- to the mere fricative F-:
+FP >F/#___for fricatives F and plosives P
Applying this rule to the case on hand, +sk > s / #___.
and remembering that plosives have to be sonorous after nasals in most
dialects (Michelena 1977: § 18.9), we see that a root +skankV- would
indeed develop into /sank(h)V-/, i.e. zank(h)V-, and further into
/sangV-/, i.e. zangV-, in Basque. This is the basis for my proposal
that Bq. zango, zank(h)o 'leg, foot' continues a PVasc. +skankV- and
that Gmc. +skankV- 'thigh' is a Vasconic loan-word.
Another example treated in my 1995c article is the Germanic strong
(class III) verb +stinkwan 'to push', Goth. stigqan 'to push' (with a
change of meaning in OE stincan etc. 'to stink'). Applying the special
case
+st > s / #__
of the above initial cluster reduction rule, a PVasc. +stunkwa- 'to
push' could be the basis both for Bq. zunka 'thrust, blow' (preserved
only in Eastern dialects where plosives do not become sonorant after
nasals, cf. Michelena 1977: § 18.9)54 [369 and, as a Vasconic
loan-word in Germanic, for the ablauting Gmc. +stinkWan- / +stankWa- /
+stunkWum- / +stunkWan- 'to push'.
20.2.7. Applications
20.2.7.1. OHG scarpf/sarpf 'sharp', skulan/suln 'shall'
Old High German contains two words with a peculiar variation of
initial sk- and s- for which no generally accepted explanations exist.
Both of them give the impression of being non-Indo-European
loan-words, and since such words may be of Vasconic origin, an effect
of the same constraint as in the preceding section must be considered.
The word OE scearp (Engl. sharp), OFris. skerp, skarp, MLG MDutch
scharp, scherp (Mod.Du. scherp), OS skarp, ON skarpr, OHG scarpf (NHG
scharf) 'sharp' is by Kluge/Seebold (1995: s.v. scharf) connected to
Latv. skar~bs, Mir. cerb 'cutting' (Pres. Part. belonging to cerbaim
'I cut') and further to PIE *sker- 'to cut'. "Die Abgrenzung ist im
einzelnen wegen weit auseinanderfallender Bedeutungen unklar (so z.B.
die Beurteilung von ae. sceorpan 'schmerzen, schaben, schneiden')."
The OED (s.v. sharp) offers a different picture: "The Teut. root
*skerp-: skarp-: skurp- appears also in OHG. scurfan, MHG. schürfen to
cut open (mod.G. to poke a fire). OE. scearpe scarification, scearpian
to scarify. The Teut. root *skrep-: skrap- (see scrape v.) appears to
be related; no cognates outside Teut. are known."
This does not appear to be the end of the uncertainty noted by
Kluge/Seebold. There is also in Germanic a verbal root +kerb- (late
MHG kerben, MLG MDutch kerven), as a strong verb in OE ceorfan, cf.
further ON kyrfa 'to carve', Dan. karve 'to notch, indent', Swed.
karfwa 'to notch, carve'. Both Kluge/Seebold (1995: s.v. kerben) and
the OED (s.v. carve v.) point to a traditional association with Gk.
gráphein 'to write', originally 'to scratch or engrave'. Neither note
the phonological and semantic similarity to the sharp word.55 [370
There is yet another peculiarity connected to the sharp word which
Kluge/Seebold do not mention but the OED does: There exists a form OHG
MHG sarpf, sarf, early MDutch sarp 'sharp'. Kobler (1994) lists sarpf
together with scarpf (s.v. skarpf*), and likewise for the derivatives.
By contrast, the OED says, "The OHG. and MHG. sarpf (early mod.Du.
sarp) sharp is prob. unconnected." This is understandable in terms of
Indo-European and Germanic etymology where such an alternation (of sk-
and s-) has no place. But apart from that, assuming two unrelated
words scarpf and sarpf of exactly the same meaning in the same
language is in my opinion an illegitimate appeal to chance as a mode
of explanation.
I do not have an account accommodating all of the peculiarities
mentioned. But I think that a few things can be said about them.
First, the phonological irregularities in the above correspondences,
e.g, in terms of Grimm's Law, as well as the restriction to some of
the Western Indo-European languages, point to a loan complex.
Second, the variant sarpf of scarpf 'sharp' opens up additional
connections: (1) With s- > h- / #___V, the same root form +sarp-
'sharp' can be identified in Gk. hárpe:. f. '(1) sickle, (2) bird of
prey, kite56' and its likely derivatives (cf. Frisk 1973: s.vv.
hárpe:, harpázo): hárpasos (name of a bird of prey), hárpax f.
'robbery', hárpax m. 'robber'57 , harpázo 'to snatch away, rob',
hárpagos, harpáge: 'hook', etc. Frisk (1973: s.v. hárpe:) compares as
"wahrscheinlich urverwandt" Gk. hárpe: to OCS srUpU 'sickle'58, [371
Latv. sirpe 'sickle' and possibly Lat. sarpere 'die Weinstöcke
beschneiteln (to lop vines)' (for which cf. Walde/Hofmann 1982: s.v.
sarpio:/ sarpo:) and OHG sarpf.
Third, an item that so far seems to have been overlooked in the
discussion of the above words is Span. zarpa meaning 'claw' but
designating at the same time a variety of vaguely related concepts. In
Basque there is a word zarpa with several meanings overlapping those
of Span. zarpa, one of them being '[Span.] espolón, [Fr.] éperon
(Bot.)', i.e. 'spur (in botanical terminology)'.59 The Spanish word
zarpa 'claw' has several peculiar aspects (Corominas/Pascual 1991:
s.v.), most interesting among them in the present context being the
fact that it is restricted to Castilian and adjacent Pyrenean dialects
and is not attested (with this meaning) before a. 1611.
Corominas/Pascual (1991: s.v.) ask the question of whether the word
might be Basque in origin ("o deberemos mirar más bien el vocablo
vasco como genuino?") but do not answer it in the affirmative. In my
view it has to be so answered, because the word is not original in
Romance (it does not even occur in Portuguese), and there is no other
language around from which both Cast. zarpa and Bq. zarpa could be
assumed to have been borrowed .60 I propose that zarpa is originally a
Basque word meaning 'claw' that was borrowed into Castilian, where it
preserved the original meaning, and then gradually receded in its
original meaning until it survived with the meta-phorical meaning 'spur'.
As for the other +sarp- words discussed above, I would like to propose
that they all go back to the same Vasconic word +sarpV- that survives
residually in Bq. zarpa 'spur', i.e., that they are prehistoric
Vasconic loans exactly as Span. zarpa is a medieval Basque loan. As a
likely original meaning of Vasconic +sarpV- I would like to consider
'claw'; 'spur', 'rob', 'sharp' and 'sickle' would then represent
metonymical and metaphorical shifts based on this original meaning.
Alternatively, and perhaps preferably, 'sharp' or 'sharp object' could
be basic, with 'claw', 'spur', 'rob', and 'sickle' as specific
applications.
Is there then a way to connect this group of +sarp- words to [372 Gmc.
+skarp- 'sharp' and to Gmc. +kerb- 'to carve'? In principle, there
are, of course, even two ways: inserting the +-k- and deleting the
+-k-. If it were not for +kerb-, one way of connecting +sarp- and
+skarp- 'sharp' would be assuming a contamination of Vasconic +sarpV-
with IE +sker- 'to cut' yielding +skarpV- 'sharp'. However, if one
wants to connect +kerb- 'to carve' as well, the only way seems to be
the other way around: to assume a Vasconic form +skarpV- 'claw' (or
'sharp (object)'). Bq. zarpa 'spur' would phonologically derive by way
of implementing the constraint
+sk > s / #__
of the preceding section. Gmc. +sharp- 'sharp' would preserve the
original shape of the root. The +sarp- forms of German and Dutch,
Balto-Slavic, Latin, and Greek would have to be explained as
borrowings from varieties of Vasconic that had already implemented the
above constraint at the times of contact. The +kerb- group would have
to be interpreted as another out come of the Vasconic process of
cluster simplification, leaving the plosive rather than the fricative.61
The only other case of an sk-/s- variation in Germanic is that of the
preterite-present Goth. OHG skal/skulum, ON skal/skulom, OS
scal/sculun, OFris. skel, skil, OE sceal/sculon 'owe(s), shall'.
Kluge/Seebold (1995: s.v. sollen) consider the meaning 'to owe'
original (cf. also Gm. Soll n. 'debit', schuld 'at fault, to blame',
Schuld f. 'guilt', Schulden pl. 'debts', schulden 'to owe') and
compare Lith ske.´leti 'to owe'. "Weitere Herkunft unklar." The OED
(s.v. shall) says, "Outside Teut. the only certain cognates are Lith.
skeleti to be guilty, skìlti to get into debt, skolà debt, guilt,
OPrussian skallisnan (acc.) duty, skellânts guilty, po-skulit to
admonish."
This verb has a variant saln/suln. Braune/Eggers (1987: § 146 n. 4 and
§ 374) and Kluge/Seebold (1995: s.v. sollen) assume the sk- forms as
basic and explain the loss of -k- as a [373 consequence of weak
sentence accent; Kluge/Seebold refer to a similar development in
English. About this parallel as well as proposed explanations, the OED
says:
The northern English dialects (including Sc[otch]) have a form sal,
pa. tense suld, with initial s instead of sh. This does not occur in
the remains of ONorthumbrian, but first appears in the 13th c. It is
remarkable that a similar form, with s irregularly representing OTeut.
sk, existed as a dialectal variant in OHG. (sal, sol, sulun) and
OFris. (sal, sel), and has ousted the regular form in Ger. (soll,
sollen) and Du. (zal, zou). Some scholars regard the s form as
representing an OTeut. variant, originating from the euphonic dropping
of k in inflexional forms like the subjunctive *skli:-. It seems more
probable that it was independently developed in the different dialects
at an early period, while, the sk- retained its original
pronunciation; in stressless position the k might naturally be
dropped, and the simplified initial afterwards extended by analogy to
the stressed use.
Prokosch (1939: 191 n. 3) believes that the -k- was first lost from
sk- in zero grade forms where the cluster stood before the nuclear
liquid prior to the anaptyxis of u, from where the s- onset
subsequently generalized. Braune/Eggers (1987: § 146 n. 4) support the
accentual weakening hypothesis by pointing to the further reduction of
the form in Swed. Gutn. al.
The Old High German variants scarpf/sarpf and skal/sal (etc.) develop
differently in time (Braune/Eggers 1987: § 146 n. 4 and § 374): In the
oldest documents sarpf dominates; scarpf only occurs occasionally,
e.g. Hildebrandslied v. 64 (scarpen scurim: dat in dem sciltim
stont62), becomes a little more frequent in the 10th/11th centuries,
and begins to oust sarpf/sarf in Middle High German. By contrast, sal
forms are rare in early Old High German but become dominant toward the
end of the 10th century.
Since sk- dominates in the Germanic preterite-present from the
earliest times and can be related to sk- verbs in Baltic, the best
assumption seems to be that it represents the original onset.
The limited distribution, however, is another problem: The root only
occurs in Germanic and Baltic.63 This makes it likely [374 that we are
dealing with a prehistoric loan-word, borrowed at a time when the
verbal and deverbal formation processes (including the ablaut system)
were still strong enough to integrate such a borrowed item.
Judging by its meaning, the item may have been borrowed with a social
significance. This is perhaps underlined by a word that is not
generally associated with the preterito-present64 but may nevertheless
belong here, and whose social significance is obvious: Gmc. +skalkaz
m. 'servant' as in Goth. skulks, ON skalkr (NIcel. skálkur 'rogue'),
OHG scalc (NHG Schalk 'wag, rascal'), OS scalk, OFris. skalk, OE
scealc (Engl. shalk poet. obs.65). "Herkunft unklar" (Kluge/Seebold
1995: s.v.). "No cognates outside Teut. have been found" (OED: s.v.
shalk). Considering the fact that debts used to be (and still are in
many parts of the world) a regular cause of servitude, Gmc. +skalkaz
m. 'servant' could be derived from the preterite-present.66 A way to
combine the two items is the assumption of a radical laryngeal in the
borrowed word, as proposed by Beekes (1988: 99)67, e.g. +skalH-/
skulH-. This would agree well with Germanic root structure and would
explain the ablaut vowel of the plural forms (e.g. OE sculon not
sce:alon). It would also explain the doublet with root-final k,
+skalk-a-z, because it often happens that a segment threatened by
weakening and loss is saved by strengthening. This apparently happened
again when the word [375 was borrowed from Germanic or Baltic into
Finno-Ugric as +kelki-, +kelke- 'to have to, to be to', as in Lapp.
gâl'gâ 'to be to, to have to', Hung. kell- 'to have to, to be to, to
need; to please' (cf. Koivulehto 1991: 69 n. 37). The replacement of a
laryngeal (in a wide sense, including not only glottal slops and
fricatives but also e.g. velar fricatives) with k, especially in
contact with l, does not only occur by way of sound substitution in
loan-words but also as a language-internal development. This
phenomenon has been described by Lutz (1991: 43-45), cf. the following
examples:
OE ho:h > StEngl. hough /hAk/ 'hollow of the knee'
OE he:ahfore > dial. heckfer alongside StEngl. heifer
Late OE dweorg, dweorh > ME dwergh/dwerf/dwerk, Engl. dial. dwerk
alongside StEngl. dwarf Engl. dial. selk alongside StEngl. seal
(zool.) OE eolh > ME elgh/elk, Engl. elk
As for the source of the putative loan-word or loan-complex, one place
to look would be Basque again, remembering that initial +sk- there
would be reduced to z- /s-/ and that intervocalic -l- would appear as
-r-, after apocope as -r~, which in turn may be generalized (cf.
Michelena 1977: chs. 16, 17). It so happens that the Common Basque
word zor (zorr-) means '[Span.| deuda, [Fr.] debte', i.e. 'debt'. It
could continue an ancient +skolV or +skulV, perhaps from an earlier
+skolHV or +skulHV (with a laryngeal H, see above).68 Caesar (Bell.
Gall. III. 22) describes a kind of Aquitanian brotherhood of 600 men,
locally called Soldurians (Soldurii), who "owe" their lives to
friends, in the sense that they share their friends' joys of life but
in return have to follow them into a violent death, either by
perishing with them or by committing suicide - a debt which [376
no-one in living memory had ever refused to pay.69 Since the name is
used by the local people (illi), the inhabitants of the city of the
Sotiates, in Aquitaine, Caesar's Aquitania, the name is likely to be
Aquitanian, and thus Vasconic.70 Perhaps then the first part of the
name Soldurii is the same as Basque zor 'debt'.71
54. Owing to another segmental constraint, Basque does not allow
labialized velars.
55. There are more etymological riddles connected to this group
which I cannot all follow up in this paper. E.g., Gmc. +grab-a- (str.
verb, class VI) 'to dig' (Goth. OHG graban, ON grafa, OS grava, OFris.
gre:fa, griova, OE grafan) can, according to Kluge/Seebold (1995: s.v.
graben), only be directly compared to Latv. grebt 'to scrape out, to
hollow out' and to OCS greti 'to row, to dig' and further be
associated with PIE *ghrebh- 'to grasp, to grip, to seize'. It seems
to me that the concept of digging is semantically
closer to the idea of using a sharp instrument than to that of
gripping. The OED (s.v. grave v.) says, "Cognates are found in OS1.
greba I dig (also, I row), grobu ditch, Lettish grebju I scrape.
Connexion with Gr. gráphein, to write, is no longer accepted by
philologists." This connection must indeed be rejected if the compared
items are understood as native Indo-European; in a loan-complex
involving several borrowing languages such want of precision,
especially on the phonological side, is exactly what must be expected.
56. According to Frisk (1973: s.v. hárpe:), the 'bird of prey'
word is derived metonymically from the 'sickle' word, after the
sickle-shaped claws. I have no objection against the assumption that
the 'bird of prey' word was derived metonymically from an old 'claw'
word. However, since claws are older than sickles, perhaps the 'claw'
meaning is basic to the group, the 'sickle' meaning being
metaphorically derived from the 'claw' meaning, The original meaning
may be 'sharp (object)', see below.
57. "Eigentlich 'mit Krallen versehen' (?)" (Frisk 1973: s.v.
hárpe:). I think this is a simple metaphor, cf. Gm. coll. (sich dat.)
krallen w. acc. 'to take/snatch away, take possession of (unlawfully)'.
58. Russ. serpU 'sickle' (Walde/Hofmann 1982: s.v. sarpio:/sarpo:).
59. This meaning occurs only in one community of the High
Navarrese dialect. One interpretation of such restricted application
makes it appear likely that this meaning is residual and thus possibly
very old.
60. In particular the Castilian word is unlikely to continue
Lat. sarp-, because the regular reflex of Lat. s- in Castilian is s-
not z-.
61. Such different outcomes of constraint implementation are
known from Finnish loan-word adaptation of st- first as s-, later as
t- (cf. Vennemann
1995c: n. 129, with reference to Koivulehto 1994: 85). An example of
st-> s- is Gmc. +sto:da- (OHG stuot, NHG Stute, Gestüt, OSwed. sto:þ)
'mare' > Finn, (old, dial.) suota 'herd of mares in heat, herd of
horses'; an example of st> t- is Gmc. +stango: (Gm. Stange, ON
sto,ng) > Finn. tanko 'pole, stick, staff, rod'.
62. With Low Saxonizing -p- for -ph-. The alliteration warrants
the sk- onset.
63. Prokosch (1939: 192) connects Lat. scelus, -eris n. 'guilt,
crime' but Walde/Hofmann (1982: s.v.), glossing the word 'Bosheit,
Verruchtheit, Verbrechen' ('wickedness, infamy, crime'), consider this
connection uncertain, while Ernout/Meillet (1959), glossing the word
'mauvaise action, faute, crime', declare the connection to be "pas
davantage".
64. The proposal was made by von Grienberger (1900: 187).
Lehmann (l986: s.v. skalks) refers to it but rejects it, without
giving reasons.
65. "The word forms the second element in *marho-skalko-z
'horse-servant', marshal n." (OED: s.v. shalk).
66. Without wanting to press the issue, perhaps the word
shilling finds an ex-planation along these lines, too: Goth.
skilliggs, ON skillingr (Icel. also skildingr), OHG scilling,
skillink, OS. scilling (MLG also schildink), OFris. skilling,
skilleng, schilling. The original meaning could be that of a unit of
compensation or taxation, and thus of what one owes. If correct, this
would show the e grade of the verbal root in Germanic.
67. Beekes assumes the root to be Indo-European, despite its
restricted occurrence.
68. Even though zor 'debt' is monosyllabic in all contemporary
varieties of Basque, there is an older form zoor on record whose
spelling is in certain other w ords a sign of hiatus, i.e. of
disyllabicity (Michelena 1977: § 5.3). This may show that the equation
with the Germanic and Baltic words is wrong. However, it may also be a
trace of the way the word was simplified, e.g. +skolHV > +skoHlV
(metathesis) > +skoHolV (anaptyxis) > +zoHolV (onset cluster
reduction) > +zoHorV > +zoHor > zoor > zor. If a change, type employed
by Löpelmann (1968: s.v. sorr) who identifies Bq. zor with Span.
socorro 'help, assistance, support, advance payment', is attested,
then one could see the hiatus as a consequence of the way onset
clusters of a sibilant and a plosive were simplified: +skolHV >
+sokolHV (by echo anaptyxis) > +sokolV > +sokorV > +sokor > +sohor >
zoor > zor. In any event, Löpelmann's own etymology appears weak to me
for semantic reasons.
69. "... cum DC devotis, quos illi soldurios appellant - quorum
haec est condicio, uti omnibus in vita commodis una cum iis fruantur,
quorum se amicitiae dediderint, si quid his per vim accidat, aut
eundem casum una ferant aut sibi mortem consciscant; neque adhuc
hominum memoria reper-tus est quisquam, qui eo interfecto, cuius se
amicitiae devovisset, mortem recusaret - ..." (Caesar [1990]: III.
22). Walde/Hofmann (1982: s.v. soldu:rii) gloss the name 'die jdm.
durch ein Gelübde verpflichteten, die Getreuen', i.e. 'those obligated
(indebted) to someone by a vow, the faithful ones' and report on
several doubtful etymological attempts. Ernout/Meillet (1959: s.v.
soldurii:) say 'gardes du corps ou vassaux d'un chef gaulois. Nom
donné expressement comme gaulois par Cesar, BG 3, 22, 1), without
giving etymologies.
70. Aquitanian is considered an early regional variety of Basque
by Michelena (1954), Gorrochategui (1984, 1987), and Trask (1997:
398-403).
71. From a Basque point of view, the second part of the stem
could be a compositional head meaning 'having', cf. e.g. Bq. hobendun,
hobenduri 'guilty' (hoben 'fault, blame'), cf. Löpelmann 1968: s.v.
-duri/-duru. Perhaps a similar formation existed in Aquitanian, so
that the literal meaning of Soldurii could have been 'those having (a)
debt (to pay)'.
"
That was kinda long. Hope it answers your questions.
> =======
> > A conspicuous feature of Bask, also visible in Etruscan,
> > is that PIE *l and *r are reflected as [s] written -z- in Bask.
> > Example :
> > Lip < *lap? = Bask ezp-ain < *zap-in
> > hence zango is in fact the same as leg and Greek laks.
>
> Where did that come from?
> =============
> A.F
> I suppose the lateral [l] and vibrant [r]
> gradually became lateral fricative[lsh],
> the lateral component was lost,
> the fricative feature became prevalent
> and finally merged with s.
> This process made room for *(n)d > Bask l
> and *(n)t? > r
> The basic comparative rule is simple :
> Bask l or r can never correspond to l or r in PIE.
> Any similarity points immediately toward borrowing.
I see, you made it up yourself. Other examples?
Torsten