Re: Calaf , calamus,& halma/halm

At 4:17:29 PM on Monday, February 2, 2009, Richard
Wordingham wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "The Egyptian Chronicles"

>> Third: In Welsh, Calaf has two precise definitions: 1)
>> reed (s) n.f. (calafon/calafau); 2) stalk(s) n.f.
>> (calafon/calafau). These correspond to the Classical
>> Arabic glf جÙ?ف

> Written Welsh <f> represents spoken /v/, and derives from
> intervocalic /b/ or /m/ in Proto-Celtic or Latin. This
> makes the phonetic match poor.

I note that Jackson, LHEB, uses Welsh <calaf> as an example
of a borrowing of cultivated Latin usage that preserved the
post-tonic penultimate syllable: Lat. cálamus > Brit.
*calámo- > Welsh calaf.

Brian