Re: Western Romance *barra 'bar' (was: Pre-Latin Bart- in place-name

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Bhrihskwobhloukstroy <bhrihstlobhrouzghdhroy@...> wrote:

>
> If we don't care about German Part-, the etymology of Italo-Western
> Romance (*)ba(:)rra remains open to 1. *gwer- 'throat', 2. *gwer(H)-
> 'heavy', 3. *gwer- 'mountain' (I can't find *ber- roots). Among these,
> I'd prefer *gwerH- 'heavy' (a bar is usually quite heavy).
>

Apparently, you forgot *gWer-u- 'spear, spit' > Celtic *beru- 'spit', Latin veru 'spit; dart, short spear', whose diminutive veruculum has been transformed into Romance *berruculu- > Old Spanish berrojo, Gascon berrolh, as well as other variants contaminated with ferrum 'iron' and other words.

I'm afraid the word barra can't be explained without the pre-Latin substratum.