andera 'woman' Celtic ?

[Larry Trask]

On Thu, 8 Apr 1999, Glen Gordon wrote:

> Hmm, after all this talk, I can't help but be enchanted by the
> similitude of Greek forms and Basque. Question: why does it matter
> whether the original form is <andere> or <andre> to the connection
> with Greek? Afterall, if a form like **andre would have been
> unpronouncable in Pre-Basque, Pre-Basque would no doubt have inserted
> a vowel and thus our Pre-Basque *andere, no?

If Pre-Basque had borrowed an *<andre> from another language, the form
would have been altered, and *<andere> is indeed the most likely
outcome.  But what Greek source could there be for Basque <andere>
`lady', and how could a Greek word make it into Basque in the Pre-Roman
period, especially without leaving any traces in any other languages?

> But then, are there any other items in Basque that're being debated
> as having a Hellenic origin beside *andere?

There have been a couple of suggestions, but not one them is even mildly
persuasive.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk