--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> At 6:02:56 AM on Sunday, June 22, 2008, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> I haven't the resources to do a decent job, and I'm not much
> inclined to do your homework for you, but I was curious
> enough to a little of the easier work. I've deleted the
> names that I don't discuss, and I've rearranged the rest to
> make my comments easier to follow.
I have some minor comments on Dauzat et al.
> > Vesontio, Vesuntio, Visontio, Bizantia, Bisontium,
> > Bisunzium, Besantio, Vesonticorum, Vesontiensium od.
> > Crisopolinorum civitas, Besantio,
> > Besançon, Stadt, Frankr. (Doubs)
>
> D&R: from the pre-IE *ves- 'mountain' (cf. mounts <Viso> and
> <Vésuve>) and the pre-Celt. suffix <-unt-> followed by the
> suffix <-ionem>, attracted to Low Latin <bison, bisontis>,
> whence the arms of the city. K.L. Jackson, LHEB 89 n. 2:
'Mountain' sounds like a mere guess on Dauzat's or Rostaing's part.
<Vesuvius> is formed like <Da:nuvius>, which is securely IE.
<Vesulus>, now <Viso>, is indeed another mountain, but <Vesubia> is a
river-name, <Vesunna> a stream-goddess of the Petrocorii, and
<Vesu:na> (from *Wes-(e)s-o:na: to avoid rhotacism?) an Italic
goddess, consort of Pomonus. At least some of these might be derived
from PIE *wes- 'to stay, dwell, exist'. The scholiast on Isidore
says "Vesulus mons Ligurum est superantissimus inter juga Alpium,
dictus quia videtur a longe solus". While we may scoff at the
implied contraction of "visus solus", this mountain clearly has
staying power, remaining in sight after others have dipped below the
traveler's horizon, and the same might be said of Vesuvius. Streams
and their goddesses can be named after their own staying power, like
<Ju:turna> = *Diu:turna.
<Vesontio:> is formed like the river-name <Alisontia> (Ausonius, loc.
inc.), *Alisontia (now Elze/Alzette > Sauer, Lux.), a variant
(probably due to different reflections of syllabic */n./) of
*Alisantia (one now Alsenz > Nahe, another Elsenz > Neckar). These
formations in -antia may not be historically productive in Celtic but
they are securely IE.
> > 'Vapincum, -cesium, Vappincum, Bapinco, Vapingo,
> > Vappincenslum od. Guapincensium civitas,
> > Gap, Stadt, Frankr. (Hautes-Alpes)
>
> Dauzat & Rostaing: a pre-Latin word, probably Ligurian, of
> obscure meaning; the initial <v-> has been treated like a
> Gmc. <w->.
*vap(p)- is apparently unattested in Liguria proper, unless <Varpros>
(Tab. Vel.) is an error for *Vapros. Petracco Sicardi suggests a
possible connection between the latter and L. <vepres> 'thorn-bush'.
Connection of either with pre-Gmc. *we:pna- 'weapon' is far-fetched
and explains nothing. Hubschmid cites a Gaulish *wabero- 'brook' as
the source of Prov. <vabre> 'id.', but it is very difficult to get
*vap(p)- out of that; if the PIE root was *gweH2bh- 'to dip, sink'
(Gr. <bápto:>), might one have Gaul. *wapto- 'inundated'?
> > Vultonna, -tumnus,
> > Boutonne, Nfl. d. Charente, Frankr.
>
> <Vultumna>, nombre de un alfuente de la Charente[28], que
> en época carolingia se denomina <Boutonne>. Considera que
> es el mismo radical que el nombre del clásico <Volturnus>,
> río de la Italia central.
>
> [28] Dauzat-Deslandes-Rostaing 1978, s.u. <Vologne> nos
> dan testimoniado <Vultumna> en el 830 y <Vultonna> en el
> 951. La forma con b- aparece ya desde 1317.
>
>
<emerita.revistas.csic.es/index.php/emerita/article/download/111/112>
> (PDF)
Connection with the river of Capua is extremely unlikely. According
to Livy, the Samnites changed the name of the town from Volturnum to
Capua when they took it from the Etruscans; the river kept its old
name and is still Volturno. Both the Oscan and the Etruscan name,
*Velthurna, are apparently based on words for 'hawk, raptor', the
Etr. *velthur (also a praenomen) being borrowed into Latin as
<voltur>, <vultur> (originally 'hawk' not 'vulture'). The French
river shows the same variation as Gallo-Latin <Garumna>, <Garunna>,
now <Garonne>, and there is no reason to connect a Gaulish river-name
with an Etruscan one.
DGK