Re: b/m alternation in Thacian, Illyria and Abanian

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:

>
> There seems to be a fair amount of alternation of b/m
> in Celtic, which occasionally shows up in Romance
> languages:
> e.g. Portuguese boneca vs. Spanish muñeca "doll,
> wrist", originally "lump"
> About 10 years ago or so there were some posting
> regarding this --perhaps on this list, or the old IE
> list but I don't remember which
>

This is a root *munno- 'swelling', with the suffix -eka, presumably Celtic. This root still survives in Spanish muñón 'stump', dialectal Basque mun(h)o, muño 'hill' and Catalan bony 'bump, lump'. But AFAIK this word doesn't exist in Celtic, so it must come from another pre-Latin IE language spoken in the Iberian Peninsula.