Many histories of the Spanish language link Spanish
initial /fV-/ > /hV-/ (and in modern Spanish > /V-/)
to Basque.
Larry Trask always pooh-poohed this idea, pointing
that Basque handled Latin loanwords with /fV-/
differently.
He also added that Spanish actually developed in
former Celtic-speaking territory, outside where Basque
was spoken.
I wondered if this could have developed due to
Celtiberian. But I ran into Flaccus - Balakos, etc. in
Stifter "Keltiberisch."
I realize that Calabrian also has /fV-/ > /hV-/ but
it's far away and probably much later --given that
I've read that Calabria and Sicily were Greek-speaking
until c. 1000 when Neapolitan speakers and others
spilled in after the Norman conquest of Sicily.
Was Trask right?
BTW: In rural Central America /f-/ > /h-/ also occurs
before diphthongs and /-l-/ e.g. fuerte /fwerte/ >
/hwerte/, flor /flor/ > /hlor/. /f-/ > /h-/ is also
heard in rural Mexico.
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