Italo-Celtic dialect base words and the PELICAN'S BILL

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> In my view OE _feolufer_, _filfor_ etc. 'type of marine bird' has nothing to do with ML _porphyrio_, but is based on the disyllabic root for 'ceremonial axe' *pelekW- and formed on the same basis as 'pelican', based on the shape of the bird's bill. This is an example of the labial being more than one syllable away.

Unclear. What I intended is that _feolufer_ etc. represents something like *pelekWro- with a derivational suffix whose consonant occluded the labiovelar. The semantic motivation is then identical to that in Grk. _peleka:n_ 'pelican' from _pelekus_ 'ceremonial axe', but obviously the formations differ in detail.

> DGK
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I confess I've never got to see an axe shape on the pelican's bill. I think it's folk-etymology for some Pre-Greek word.

JS Lopes