Re[2]: French izard (was :Re: e: [tied] Re: Finnish KASKA)

At 4:17:37 AM on Monday, February 25, 2008, fournet.arnaud
wrote:

>>>>> Dialectal French
>>>>>isard = mountain goat, chamois

>>>>This is a Pyrenean word (Cat. isard, Gasc. izar(t), Arag.
>>>>sarrio),

>>> Also Béarn. sàrri. Other variants are Cat. ixarso
>>> (Benasc), Arag. sisar, txizardo, xixardo, ixarzo.

[...]

>>>>most likely connected with Basque izarr "star" (also
>>>>"white spot on the forehead", "centro por donde parte el
>>>>pelo").

>>>I cannot see the point of a word meaning "star"
>>>when we have words that mean "goat".
>>>Un détour inutile.

>> And of course a word used only in languages around the
>> Pyrenees (Catalan, Gascon, Aragonese, Languédocien) and
>> meaning "mountain goat", is extremely likely to be
>> connected to a Middle Eastern word with with it shares
>> almost nothing phonetically (the Proto-Semitic is
>> *¿in3-), rather than with a Pyrinean word which is an
>> exact phonological match.

> Hebrew &ez "goat"
> Arabic ma&iz "goat"
> Is an "exact phonological match" (your wording).

No, it isn't. It isn't even a poor phonological match.

Brian