Re: Ligurian

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

>
> It's a long shot, but *bart- could be related to the German toponymic
> element *part-, which is found in Vennemann's work. I believe it supposed to
> mean "swamp" (vel sim) but see Venemann
>

Since you mentioned Venemann, this is attested in dialectal Basque parta (LN) 'marsh, swamp'. As you might know, his favourite pastime is picking IE items with some resemblance to a Basque word (no matter it's dialectal and scarcely attested) and then present them as loanword from a "Vasconic" substratum.

If this is a genuine Ligurian/NWB word, I'd link to the root *balt- found in Tuscan (Lucchese) paltenna 'puddle' (an Etruscan loanword) as well as Albanian baltë 'mud, swamp, clay soil' and Slavic *bólto- 'swamp'.

> Add to that Spanish barro "mud", regional bardo.
>

The form bardo is actually Aragonese (an endangered Romance language), not Spanish.

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...> wrote:
>
> Tavi already scoffed at my attempt to argue that mud forms a barrier, so I doubt that I will revisit that notion.
>
In many cases, the meaning 'mud' is secondary from 'puddle, swamp' (see above) or 'sediment' (e.g. Spanish légamo 'mud, slime' from a Celtic reflex of IE *leg- 'to lie'). Primary references to 'clay' include a widespread root found in Kartvelian *diq- 'clay, earth' (> IE *deig^- 'clay'), Afrasian *da'kW- 'clay', Yeniseian *t@... 'clay, mud', Burushaski *tod 'mud', Basque lohi 'mud, dirty'.