Re: Basque mendi 'mountain'

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:

>
> The Irish word means both 'hill' and 'open space'. It can
> mean 'racecourse', 'assembly', 'meeting place in
> general', 'square', 'market place'. If at some point the
> emphasis in Insular Celtic came to be on the use as a
> place of assembly rather then the elevation, a shift to
> 'valley' would not be all that remarkable.
>
> > I think 'open space' is secondary to 'valley',
>
> Plainly unlikely, given the PIE etymology.
>

IMHO there's no PIE etymology for this item, as the one quoted by Matasovic is faulty.

> > Given that the substrate root *pant-/*pent- is found in
> > Hispanic and Italian toponymy meaning either 'mountain' or
> > 'ravine' (e.g. South Italian pentuma),
>
> It isn't a given. There may be such a toponymic element;
> I've not checked. It doesn't matter: at best you're giving
> superficial resemblances precedence over etymological
> argument without actually addressing the latter. This isn't
> linguistics.
>

IMHO it's actually the "PIE etymology" quoted by Matasovic which is build upon "superficial resemblances" (e.g. Latin cumulus 'heap').