Re: Ligurian

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
>
> ________________________________
> From: dgkilday57 <dgkilday57@...>
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 9:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [tied] Ligurian
>
> [...] 
>
> Yesterday I overlooked Valtellinese <verca> 'heather' which also requires Illyrian vocalism, *wraika:, thus coming from pre-Ligurian substrate. To you, no doubt, an additional stratum is an unnecessary complication. To me, it is a necessary one.
> ****R
> Does this relate to Spanish verja "hedge (DRAE gives "enredado")" , French verge (I don't know what the original meaning in French is)

The printed DRAE (18th ed., 1956) derives Sp. <verja> from Fr. <verge> 'border, edge', etc., in turn from Lat. <virga> 'rod, shoot, twig', also 'stripe on the edge of a garment'. It is not clear to me how this second sense developed from the first. Perhaps there were two etymologically distinct words. I cannot say whether the 'heather' word above ties in at all.

DGK

***R Latin virga also gave rise to another type of shoot --Spanish verga

I any case, overall, the original word seems to denote the edge of vegetation, either a hedge or edge of the heath or protruding branches