--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, patrick cuadrado <dicoceltique@...> wrote:
>
> > AFAIK, this *ap- is just one of the various paleo-IE 'water' roots:
> > *akW-a:, *ap-/*ab-, *ip-/*ib-,*up-/*ub- studied by Villar.
>
> may be Aks<>Ax- too, see Axona river Essone/Aisne (?) France
> and Axium Itchen River (Hampshire-GB)
>
Actually, this could be
*ap-s- or perhaps
*ag-s-, from
*ag^- 'to drive'.
The forms
axo(n)ias, axonis are attested on lead foil inscriptions found at the thermal station Amélie-les-Bains/Banys d'Arles (Rosselló). They're Italoid votive texts directed to water godesses called
kantas niskas 'sacred girls'. These inscriptions, discovered at the beggining of the 20th, have been studied by Coromines in a 1976 article, but are mostly unknown to the rest of the world:
KANTAS NISKAS ROGAMOS ET DEP(R)ECAMUS VOS OT SANETE NON LERANCE (E) DEUS ET NESCA PETEIA ET ELETA NESCA SLA(T) SNUKU AS M(E)
NISCA ET KILITIUS NETAT(E) VLATE AC SRUET(E) POSQE(MOS)
NISKAS AQUIFERAS ROGAMUS SSULTIS NUMENA SRUET VELDELA RES SNUQUAI AUTETE CUMAS MAX(I)M(I)
RE NUMENE MAXIMI EFLAVERE ILLIUS SSROES SNUQUAI PANTOVIE SRUID AGETI NET AVOKRIOS
S ACAPOSIMA ATXILIAIA S NISKAS CATIONTS AXI(LIAIAS) NESCA EVOSTRI IO NETATI NOS IO CHIRULE (E)XKIGKI
DEMETI ITOM(IC)E ... ... SSULTIS FLOINCSON TEIK(ETE)
KANTAS NISCAS ALALIKIOS AXO(N)IAS INSTOQDE VOLTAS OSISMI E DEOS KLUEN PSAXE DEMETIM IMP(ETRIO) LERANKE NK
AXILII(S) DEAUBS AXSONIS
DOMNAS NISKAS ROG(A)MOS ET DE(PRE)CAMUS DINAS NN
(RO)GO VOS
As usual in a Latinized world, Latin formulae and personal names are also found in the inscriptions.