--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...> wrote:
>
> Latin -ss- > Portuguese (i)x /(i)s^/
But that isn't the normal change; for:
> russus > roxo
Not necessarily. I found this at:
www.plexoft.com/SBF/B.html
Corominas y Pascual account for the esh sound represented by the x
laconically, by deriving roxo from Latin russeus rather than russus.
(I trust the switch to male gender didn't throw you.) The e following
the ss presumably led to palatalization of the ess sound, and that
pretty typically evolves into esh (compare the sounds of ss in express
and expression). (The semantic difference between russus and russeus,
when it was observed, was that the latter represented a less essential
red: `dyed red,' `dressed in red,' or `a partisan of the red faction
in the Circus.')
The original paper at:
http://www.mec.es/redele/revista4/galinanes.shtml
Rosso deriva del latín russu(m), mientras que rojo parte del latín
russeus.
Laconic indeed! Also almost certainly true.