There is a Finnish <ahku> that I've seen glossed as 'Asche' and as
'ash ball' that looks like a borrowing of PGmc. *asko:n, and an
<ahjo> 'forge' from PGmc. *asjo:n 'forge' (ON <esja> 'Schieferart,
Seifenstein zum Schmieden benutzt'), both from *h2as- 'to burn, to
glow'. If <kaski> belongs here at all, it seems to me that it must
be from a substantially older layer of borrowing.
Brian
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On account of Finnish regular -s- > h
and irregular maintenance of -s- > -s-
I would say that kaski must be
a Finnish *recent* loanword.
not an older layer.
It does not look like a pre-Saami word
listed by Ante Aikio.
Maybe *kaw "burn" could be a better source
that *H2as-
*kaw-s-k- => kask-
Cf. Greek kau-s-tos
Is there Baltic reflexes for *kaw ?
Arnaud
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