Re: Latin re:ne:s 'kidneys'

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...> wrote:

>
> > IE *sre:neH2/4- (with long /e:/, sorry for the misquotation) is
> > reflected in Iranian (Avestan ra:na- 'the outer part of the leg,

thigh',

> > Persian ra:n 'thigh') and Baltic (Lithuanian stre:na 'loin, hip, leg

',

> > pl. stre:no:s 'both hips, both thighs; cross, lumbar, hip area, the
> > cross, (for horses) croup, crupper; (dialectal) hip or sacrum, back,

or

> > dorsal fin').
>
> All right, no problem with the ROOT-vowel (which I misnamed). But the

words above all refer to skeletal/structural parts, not internal organs.

>

Not a real objection (look at the Basque compound).

> > The Basque forms are errain 'kidneys, loins', errein-ezur 'sacrum'

(a

> > compound with ezur 'bone').
>
> If Latin <re:ne:s> had been borrowed into Basque, would we expect

*errene? Is remodeling into <errain> possible by analogy with some other
lexeme?

Definitely not, because the Latin form has no /a/. For example, Basque
le(g)un 'smooth, soft' can be conceivably derived from Latin pla:nu(m)
'flat', which regularly gives Basque lau(n) 'flat'.

> If your Ligurian *re:na: had been borrowed into Basque at an earlier

date, is there evidence that it could have produced <errain> without
remodeling?

>

Basque errain implies a Proto-Basque *e-rrann. I'm not sure if -ei- in
errain is original or secondary from -ai-.

Octavià