--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, patrick cuadrado <dicoceltique@...>
wrote:
> [In Caesar's _De bello Gallico_ the name Soldurii
> (Sotiates/Aquitanian warriors) means 'body-guard'; this word
> doesn't seem Celtic...]
An interesting Vasconic etymology for this name is proposed by Theo
Vennemann (_Europa Vasconica - Europa emitica_, p. 695 and notes):
"Caesar (Bell. Gall. III. 22) describes a kind of Aquitanian
brotherhood of 600 men, locally called Soldurians (Soldurii),
who 'owe' their lives to friends, in the sense that they share their
friends' joys of life but in return have to follow them into a
violent death, either by perishing with them or by committing
suicide -- a debt which no-one in living memory had ever refused to
pay.[69] Since the name is used by the local people (illi), the
inhabitants of the city of the Sotiates, in Aquitaine, Caesar's
Aquitania, the name is likely to be Aquitanian, and thus Vasconic.
[70] Perhaps then the first part of the name Soldurii is the same as
Basque zor 'debt'.[71]"
[fn. 69:] "...Walde/Hofmann (1982: s.v. soldurii) gloss the
name 'die jdm. durch ein Gelübde verpflichteten, die Getreuen',
i.e. 'those obligated (indebted) to someone by a vow, the faithful
ones' and report on several doubtful etymological attempts.
Ernout/Meillet (1959: s.v. soldurii) say 'gardes du corps ou vassaux
d'un chef gaulois. Nom donné expressement comme gaulois par Cesar,
BG 3, 22, 1), without giving etymologies."
[fn. 70:] "Aquitanian is considered an early regional variety of
Basque by Michelena (1954), Gorrochategui (1984, 1987), and Trask
(1997: 398-403)."
[fn. 71:] "From a Basque point of view, the second part of the stem
could be a compositional head meaning 'having', cf. e.g. Bq.
hobendun, hobenduri 'guilty' (hoben 'fault, blame'), cf. Löpelmann
1968: s.v. -duri/-duru. Perhaps a similar formation existed in
Aquitanian, so that the literal meaning of Soldurii could have
been 'those having (a) debt (to pay)'."
Thus, maybe Lat. Soldurii < Aquitanian (Vasconic) **zor-duri ?
Regards,
Francesco