Re: potto

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "stlatos" wrote:

>
> *putuko > ptuk = bud/nipple Ar;
> *putiyo > pucH = vulva MAr;
>

Which do "Ar" and "MAr" stand for?

> Other alt. includes qW > k / p :
>
> ttipi \ ttiki \ txipi \ txiki = small
>

I'm afraid you forgot Spanish chico and related Romance forms. This
appears to be a labialization process similar to the one of paradisu (B,
S, R), parabisu (HN, L, LN), so there's no need to posit a labiovelar
here.

> marrubi = strawberry Gip,
>

This word has am impressive dialectal variation: marubi, ma(u)lubi,
maidubi, mauli, ma(g)uri, etc. which doesn't exclude contamination from
other words.

> martzúka = mulberry
>

Here -ka is clearly a diminutive suffix, with /tz/ probably resulting
from contamination from marzoza (S), marzuza (R), marzusta (L), etc.
There're also marhüga (Z), margu (R), marguzi (S) 'mulberry' and the
compound marhügatze (Z) 'mulberry tree'.

> marrubi = strawberry Bq; >>
> madroño = strawberry tree Sp;
>

Interesting, but it would be useful to find more cases of -bj- > Spanish
ñ.

> madoufe \ madoufa = raspberry Fr;
>

There's also Catalan maduixa.

> req. at least * madRuFwía > * madr.owa \ madGuFwea \ etc., though

it's more complicated than that even if you don't consider martzúka .

>

As I said above, there's no need for a labiovelar cluster. I bet Basque
-ubi is the same word than Insular Celtic *subi- 'strawberry', a
Wanderwort found in several language families (NEC, Uralic, Altaic,
Kartvelian).