ara/ndano

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

Larry Trask <larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk> wrote:

>On Wed, 17 Mar 1999, Max W Wheeler wrote:

>> Coromines suggests three base forms: *agri:nia, *agranio. *agrena; and
>> mentions that Pokorny related the Celtic forms with Goth <akran>
>> `fruit', OE <aekern> `acorn' CSl <(j)a'goda> `small fruit, berry' Lit
>> <u'oga> id., 'cherry'.

>> He suggests that Biskaian <okaran> `plum' may be < *okran < *akran <
>> *agranio, influenced by <oko> `bunch of fruits' and other words in
>> <ok-> where <ok-> is < <ogi> `bread'. (How does that grab you, Larry,
>> Miguel?)

>It strikes me as pretty fanciful, I'm afraid.  The combining form of
><ogi> `bread' is <ot->, not *<ok->, and there is absolutely no parallel
>in Basque for the steps involved in the proposed derivation of <okaran>,
>except that a putative *<okran> would indeed be borrowed into Basque in
>the form *<okaran>.

It seems to me that Corominas is suggesting that <okaran> was
borrowed from Gothic <akran>, and <akaran> --> <okaran> under the
influence of <oko>.  Whether <oko> has anything to do with <ogi>
is another question (but ot- + g- or k- > ok-, as in okin
"baker").

>Given the recorded <basokaran> `sloe', we have a simple
>four-part analogy, where the word for `hen' is chosen somewhat
>arbitrarily:
>
><basoilo> `wild hen' : <oilo> `hen :: <basokaran> `wild plum' : X
>
>And solving for X yields the required <okaran> `plum'.

Sounds plausible.  Better than a Gothic loan in any case.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam