--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...> wrote:
>
> I'm not sure, being a newcomer to Basque phonology. I suppose such a
form could have arisen from a Latin derivative *re:ne:(n)sis. I don't
follow Octavia's objection about Latin /a/. Larry cites Bq. <lege>
'law', <errege> 'king' from Lat. <le:gem>, <re:gem> so it appears that
Lat. /e:/ in root-syllables does produce Bq. /e/ in loans. Given Bq.
<ahate> 'duck' from Lat. <anatem>, I would expect *errehe from
<re:ne:s>, then *errei. One possibility for getting <errain> is crossing
*errehe or *errei with <uztain> 'crupper, hindquarters' (one of several
variants) from Lat. *postelinam, in which the ending was lost before /n/
could be reduced, and /r/ from /l/ between the vowels was lost. Another
possibility, I suppose, is that Basque borrowed some derivative like
*re:na:linam which led to *erreharin(a) vel sim., then *errain. Still
another would be a compound formed within Basque shortly after borrowing
<re:ne:s>. As a newcomer, I'm in no position to assess any of these. At
any rate, if <errain> comes from a borrowing at all, it makes more sense
to me to get it by some means from <re:ne:s>, rather than an otherwise
unknown Ligurian word (and so far Octavia has not given evidence for
Lig. *r- < PIE *sr-).
>
Basque /errain/ can't be from Latin, DGK, no matter how hard you try. As
for the evidence you're seeking, check the name Roma < *ruma < *struma.