Re: bidet

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

>
> Basque dialects also have <gipulla> and <dipula>. We are dealing with

a culinary Wanderwort,

>

IMHO this is a cultural loanword from Latin/Romance like 'grape',
'lentil', 'oats', 'hen/chicken' and many others imported by Paleo-Basque
speakers, mostly agro-pastoralists previously unacquainted with these
items.

> Your own theory involves unspecified other languages with their own

soundlaws before the

> High Middle Ages.
>

That's right. Linguistic data points to several varieties at the
Paleo-Basque stage. For example, Asturian and dialectal Basque basa
'mud' (with an apical sibilant /s'/) became pats 'pomace' with syncope
of the final vowel and strengthtening of the sibilant at word-final.
Also the initial labial stop /b/ hardened to /p/, subsequently lost by
Martinet's Law in ats 'muddy'. But in the "Proto-Basque" variety
reconstructed by Mitxelena we've got batz 'pomace; dregs; slush' (with a
laminal affricate sibilant /ts/) . Interestingly, French névasse
'slush' has a similar element -assa usually regarded as a despective
suffix.

The thing is Mitxelena's reconstruction is mostly based on the evolution
of Latin loanwords in Basque such as causa > gauza.

> > You seem to ignore that "Aquitanian" is an epigraphic corpus
> > representing more than just one linguistic variety (probably a

dialectal

> > continuum), as shown by lexical isoglosses like this one. Another

one is

> > t-/h-, a particular case of Martinet's Law by which fortis plosives

at

> > word-initial got aspirated into /h/ or zero.
>
> If Aquitanian is so heterogeneous, there is even LESS reason for

making these equations.

>

Actually, the Aquitanian evidence is largely outnumbered by Basque
itself, where we can find doublets with and without Martinet's Law.

> Anyhow, whatever century it comes from, the fact remains that

<borondate> has initial bo-.

>
> > Comming from an earlier *p- as in poz, ponte, putre, palatu, pago,

etc.

>
> I doubt it, and <ponte> 'tufa' is from Latin <fontem>.
>

Actually 'baptismal font'. Romance /f-/ became regularly /p-/ as in fago

> pago.

> Martinet said that ancient Basque opposed initial [pH]
>
> > = fortis /p:/
>
> to [b],
>
> > = lenis /p/. I think you didn't read him well.
>
> He used a special sign [b.] with a circle subscript.
>

But [] indicates phonetic realization, while // is *phonemic*.