--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> Orbis Latinus
> http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/orblatv.html
> has
>
> no names in B- for Venezia
>
> one name in B- for Vienna
> Vindobona, Vendobona, Vindomana, Vindomina, Juliobona, Flaviana
> castra, Vienna, Vienna Austriae od. Fluviorum, Vienni (Wi.), Wiena,
> -nna, Winna, Byenna (Winensis),
> Wien, Stadt, Niederösterr.
>
> no names in B- for Villach
> Vaconium, Villas, -lacum, Viccacum (Villacensis),
> Villach, Stadt, Österr. (Kärnten)
>
> and the rest of names of these towns the Slavic and most other names
> outside of this 'central Slavic' area are in V-. The Latin-speaking
> part of the Roman empire was much bigger than that.
>
> So, I'm not convinced it was the influence of Vulgar Latin.
> Actually I'm fishing for something Venetic.
Try fishing in the Vidunia, now the Weidling, flowing into the Danube
near Vienna. The name is formed like *Perk(w)unia, borrowed into
Celtic and transmitted to us as Hercynia, also into Germanic as
Gothic <faírguni> 'mountain, mountain range' and the Latinized OHG
place-name Fergunna. The /u/ was short and took the accent, as we
see in the action of Verner's Law on the Gmc. forms.
The root of Vidunia appears to be *widhu- 'hardwood'. The abundance
of hardwoods around Vienna is favorable for producing wine, hence the
Weinviertel north of Vienna.
Forget whatever I said about *Weneto:s speaking Alteuropäisch. I
convinced myself over the course of last week that Alteuropäisch is a
western offshoot of unsatemized Indo-Iranian. This simple assumption
explains not only the predominant /a/-vocalism but also several other
problems regarding the morphology, lexicon, and geography of the
river-names. Details will follow in a week or two, assuming I can
avoid misplacing my references.
In this new view, the self-name *Weneto:s 'Beloved Ones' was used by
native Western IE-speakers to distinguish themselves from the Eastern
invaders. Indeed, the name could have served as a shibboleth, since
an Indo-Iranian-speaker posing as a native would have pronounced
*Wenetos as *Wanatas, giving himself away with his lack of /e/.
The notion that Indo-Iranian-speakers inhabited pre-Celtic Britain
might be jarring to some; hopefully stiff upper lips can be kept.
Douglas G. Kilday