--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Jonathan Morris <jonatas9@...>
wrote:
> Meyer-Luebke seems to derive [It. briga] from Germanic break and
> notes Gothic brikan, Lombard brehhan. It might be, but if it's a
> Lombard borrowing into Italian, how do you explain the 'g', you'd
> expect breccia -- indeed, you get breccia/brecha in Port.
> So even if you opt for a Germanic explanation, the Middle Ages
> looks too late to me.
There is at least one dialectal Italian word derived (as a loan)
from Gothic brikan which has preserved the -g-: sbregar 'to break,
tear' (with prosthetic -s-). Thus, Gothic brikan > Italian briga
(and Spanish brega) doesn't seem to pose any phonological problem.
Also, you are right in inferring that, if borrowed from Lombard
brehhan, the Italian word should have been breccia. Yet the German
etymologies proposed for it thus far derive briga from Gothic
brikan, not from Lombard brehhan. Actually Old Italian dialects have
a noun breccia 'crushed stones, gravel' that is regarded by some
etymologists as a loan from Lombard brehhan 'to break'. However, I
don't know if a Lombard verb brehhan is actually attested; if it is,
it would be the same as Old High German brehhan 'to break'.
(Note: the Portuguese word you have cited, brecha, which is the same
as Spanish brecha, Italian breccia, is a loan from French
brèche 'breach, opening' (as in a city wall during a siege), a
military term that appears to have become widespread in the 15th-
16th century in conjunction with the advent of heavy artillery in
siege techniques. The French term is, once again, derived from our
Germanic root via Old High German brecha 'breaking, fracture', but
the Italian term breccia 'crushed stones, gravel' I have mentioned
above does not belong in this group...)
*********
There is, however, another Germanic etymon I have found which could
solve the apparent conflict of meanings between Italian briga,
Castilian brega etc. 'fight, quarrel' one one side, and Italian
brigare 'to deal, to frequent (someone), to meet in small groups, to
intrigue (secret plans) to obtain something' and French briguer 'to
intrigue to achieve some aim, to aspire to' on the other. As I
pointed out several times, the semantics of these latter Italian and
French forms is far removed from 'to fight'. Yet, there are Old
Norse brek 'desire, deception, intrigue' and breka 'to demand (to
obtain something one is not entitled to)', these too from Proto-
Germanic *brikan- 'to break', which could fill the semantic gap I
have pointed to:
http://tinyurl.com/4k8ofa
http://tinyurl.com/4oz2dk
http://tinyurl.com/3md7v5 (search the word "briga")
Any comments on this latter point?
Thanks and best regards,
Francesco