Re: Etymology of the Italian surname 'Brighenti'

From: Jonathan Morris
Message: 60135
Date: 2008-09-19

Have you checked Pokorny p. 166 - original IE idea - cut with sharp object - but takes on meaning of 'quarrel' in Celtic (as well as Baltic/Slavic) - must say I find his semantics rather too relaxed for my taste - but it's there.

In Portuguese (Brazilian at least) - the meaning of brigar is always quarrel, fight. fall out with someone - or briguento -a pugnatious, aggressive person - although Houaiss thinks it's probably a borrowing from MFrench - frankly I can't see why it couldn't go back further into V Latin

--- Em qui, 18/9/08, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> escreveu:
De: Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...>
Assunto: Re: [tied] Re: Etymology of the Italian surname 'Brighenti'
Para: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Data: Quinta-feira, 18 de Setembro de 2008, 19:15



----- Original Message ----
From: Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@... it>
To: cybalist@... s.com
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 6:04:59 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Etymology of the Italian surname 'Brighenti'



--- In cybalist@... s.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@ ...> wrote:

> so perhaps *bhreg- (Lat. frango:, etc),
> with some Celtic-like *-re- > *-ri- ?

As I think I had mentioned at the start of this exchange, according to
the _Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology_ (1996 edn.),
which repeats a claim already made in O. Pianigiani's 1907
etymological dictionary, the Vulgar Latin term briga would derive, as
a foreign loan word, from Gothic brikan 'to break' (< PIE *bhreg- 'to
make a noise, to crack, to break'), which by ablaut originated
brajka 'strife, struggle' (a secondary meaning derived by the noisy
shouting which characterizes fighting). The last mentioned meaning in
Gothic matches one of the meanings of the Italian term briga, 'strife,
brawl, fight, quarrel'. Yet the earliest attested meaning of briga
(found in Dante Alighieri) seems to be 'strength, vigour', which is
best explained if this word is regarded not as a Gothism, but as an
ancient loan from Celtic (*bri:go- 'strength' > Old Irish brig 'power,
strength, force', Middle Welsh bri 'honor, dignity, authority') not
attested in Latin.

Regards,
Francesco

While I could see Spanish bregar < *brikare, Italian didn't voice intervocalic /-k-/
So note that brega in Spanish can mean "the breach", i.e. "combat", Spanish bragas refers to the other kind of breeches/britches
New web site?

Drive traffic now.

Get your business

on Yahoo! search.

Change your life

with Yahoo! Groups

balance nutrition,

activity & well-being.

Check out the

Y! Groups blog

Stay up to speed

on all things Groups!

.



Novos endereços, o Yahoo! que você conhece. Crie um email novo com a sua cara @ymail.com ou @rocketmail.com.