From: dgkilday57
Message: 70589
Date: 2012-12-13
>First, since Oscan had *-fr- from medial *-sr- (Neap. <Ottufre> 'October'), it probably had initial *fr- from *sr- as well, like Latin <fri:gus> 'coldness', and Etruscan allows fr-. But even if Oscan retained *sr-, Etruscan allows that as well, with <sren> 'image' vel sim., <srenchva> 'set of images' vel sim. Finally, Rome is not a river, but a city at a ford on a river.
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@> wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > On second thought, if <Ro:ma> is derived from *reuH- 'to spread out,
> make room' (as in Lat. <ru:s> 'countryside' from *rewHos 'expanse,
> spread', Gmc. *ru:maz 'space, room' from *ruH-mo- 'extended, spread out,
> etc.), it is better to explain the morphology without going outside
> standard Latin.
> >
> > A plausible parallel is Lat. <po:mum> 'fruit', for which Umb.
> <Puemune> dat. sg. 'to Pomonus' requires an Italic stem *powemo-
> 'fruitful'. This can be taken as containing the /o/-grade of the root
> *peu- 'to propagate one's kind, procreate' whose zero-grade implemental
> noun *putlo- 'implement of procreation, offspring, son' is reflected as
> Skt. <putra->, Osc. acc. sg. <puklum>.
> >
> > Formed like *powemo-, Itc. *row(H)emo- 'expansive, broad' would apply
> to the wide part of a river where fording is feasible, and <Ro:ma> would
> simply be the fem. sg. of this adjective.
> >
> One question: is the Tiber fordable in Rome? Otherwise, I'd prefer the
> classsical etymology from Oscan *sru:ma 'river', through an Etruscan
> intermediate.
>