From: dgkilday57
Message: 64372
Date: 2009-07-10
>Cicero (ad Att. 17:13) mentions a bridge called Tirenus (v.l. Tiretius) at Minturnae, the town on the Liris between Latium and Campania. "Tirenus pons, qui est Minturnis fortasse in fluvio Liri vel in Maricae paludibus."
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> Returning to <Tiról>, if my accentual concerns are valid, it cannot be pre-Roman, and a Latinate explanation should be sought. Vulgar Latin *ti:ra:re 'to pull, draw' and *ti:rum 'a pulling, drawing, draught' are reflected in Italian <tirare> and <tiro>, and in other Romance languages. An adjective, VL *ti:ra:lis 'pertaining to draught', is very likely. A pass or bridge wide enough for a pair of draught animals would then be <aditus *ti:ra:lis> or <pons *ti:ra:lis>. The Castrum Maiense near Meran indicates Roman occupation already in the 1st cent. CE. I hypothesize that any vehicular traffic in the area had to go over a pass (or less likely a bridge) which became known as *Ti:ra:lis, masculine in agreement with <aditus> or <pons>, and which gave its name to the locality. The medieval castle built nearby would take the same name, by then Alpine Romance *Tirále. I take this as the source of the 12th-cent. <Tiral(e)> and <Tyral.> as well as the Middle High German citation <Tiräl>. The official form <comites Tirolenses> probably originated with a particular dialectal pronunciation; <Tol(l)> for standard <Tal> is cited from the Eisacktal for comparison. At any rate this scenario explains the accent of <Tiról>. Italian <Tirólo> must come from the official German form, not directly from Alpine Romance.
> Regarding VL *ti:ra:re, I suspect a connection with the equally obscure Latin <ti:ro:> 'recruit, novice, tyro', which serves as a cognomen and is morphologically compatible with Etruscan origin. Possibly an Etr. *ti:r- 'to pull, draw' produced a noun *ti:ru: 'one who pulls or draws, draught animal', specifically 'donkey, jackass', and the Latinized <ti:ro:> in military slang expressed the contempt which experienced soldiers felt toward a recruit. On the other hand *ti:rum and *ti:ra:re would be developments from the objective sense.Cicero thrice mentions an assassin named Numisius Tiro in the Philippics, and <Numisius> is the Latinized form of the Etruscan gentilicium <Numsi>.