--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> [ . . . ] words derived from *gHal- often
> refer to magical incantations in Germanic
> [. . . ] This sense, possibly, is what we find in *naxti-Galan-
> (*-gHal-on-), given the inadvertent yet strong effect of the
> nightingale's song on the human brain.
>
> Piotr
A similar thing might have happened in Latin. The Romance names for
the nightingale are French rossignol, Occitan rossinhol, Catalan
rossinyol (three different spellings for basically the same word) and
It. rusignolo (but not Spanish ruiseñor, which is a loan from Occitan
plus folk-etymology). They all derive from popular Latin *lusciniolus,
from Latin luscinius (and/or luscinia, in an ambiguity about gender
akin to the one signaled by Piotr for OE). In luscinius the -cin-
segment, i.e. the unstressed version of can- = sing, is readily
detectable. So, apparently, both Roman and Germanic names simply
stressed the bird's singing (or human brain-effect) feature.
Ton Sales