From: Tavi
Message: 69070
Date: 2012-03-26
>De Vaan considers Latin costa 'rib; side, flank' to be an isolated word with no etymology. IMHO this is a Phoenician loanword from qs.t 'edge, limit' (femenine), having nothing to do with the IE word for 'bone'.
> I'm going to summarize the weakness I've found in De Vaan's work. As
> indicated by its title, this is a Latin dictionary where other Italic
> languages and Proto-Italic itself play a minor role. Secondly, in the
> introduction he sticks to the *outdated* Italo-Celtic hypothesis, in
> despite of being rejected by his colleague Matasovic.
>
> Although he says his is a dictionary of "inherited lexicon" (thus
> excluding Greek loanwords), he includes some likely Etruscan borrowings,
> often with a shameless laziness. For example, he thinks Latin ferrum
> 'iron' < PItalic *ferso-m might be a loanword from some Phoenician
> dialect, because the word is attested in Semitic (e.g. Akkadian
> persillum). In fact, this is a Wanderwort of ultimate Luwian origin from
> the root *bherg´- 'to shine', introduced to Italy by the Etruscans
> (Villanova culture).
>