Re: Basque mendi 'mountain'

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...> wrote:

>
> Strabo was correct in distinguishing Ligurians from Celts. Several

phonological developments show that Ligurian cannot be a Celtic
language:

>
> 1. PIE *p > Lig. /p/. The river Porcobera (Sent. Minuc.), Latinized

as Porcifera (Plin.), now Polcevere, evidently means 'salmon-bearing'
(*pork^o-bHer-); cf. Old Irish <erc>, <orc> 'perch, salmon', OHG
<ferhana> 'trout', etc.

>
> 2. PIE *gWH > Lig. /b/. Lucus Bormani (Itin. Ant.) and other Lig.

place-names (and god-names) associated with warm springs, collected by
Kretschmer, evidently reflect PIE *gWHorm- 'warm', Lat. <formus>; cf.
Skt. <gharmas>, Old Pruss. <gorme>, OIr <gor> 'heat', etc.

>
> 3. PIE *r. > Lig. /ar/. Bargae (Tab. Vel.) evidently continues the

PIE zero-grade *bHr.g^H- (Celt. *brig-, Gmc. *burg-) from *bHerg^H- 'to
protect, defend'.

>
> 4. PIE *eu > Lig. /eu/ against *ou, which Matasovic' considers

pan-Celtic. He explains Neviodunum (sic) as an orthographic variant of
Gallo-Latin Noviodunum, but in fact Nevidunus (Tab. Vel.) is Ligurian
(in form possibly a Caland-bahuvrihi), also Leucomelium (Tab. Vel.), the
personal name Nevius (Lat. inscc. of Liguria), and the Salluvian king's
name Teutomalius (Liv. Epit. 61).

>
> Ligurian agrees with Celtic in rendering the non-labiovelar mediae

aspiratae as mediae. It also shows *gW > /b/ and *kW > /p/.

>

Ligurian would be part of the Italoid (Villar) aka Sorotaptic
(Coromines) aka Illyro-Lusitanian (DGK) group.