non-IE/Germanic/h

[Rick Mc Callister]

	Words like fiero "beast, wild animal" fiesta "party" & fiel begin
with /fy-/, so they fall into the same category as other /fC-/ words
	The same is true of /fw-/ words such as fuego /fwego/
	I can only guess that words such as feo, falla, falta, etc. are
from a dialect that retained initial /f/ or are loanwords from other
Romance languages

	However, rural dialects often change all initial /f-/ > /h-, x-/
and retain /h-, x-/ in words where initial /f-/ of Latin > /h-/ > /0/.
	My father-in-law says /hlor/ for standard <flor> & /hwego/ for
standard /fuego/. In Central America Peninsular <halar> /alar/ is <jalar>
/halar, Halar/. You also have doublets such as <hediondo> "stinky" and
<jediondo> "stanky" [which in Southern US English is a lot worse than mere
"stinky"].
	Although textbooks don't mention it [at least as far as I
remember], I've wondered if there was a /ph/ stage, given that standard /f/
is often pronounced /ph/ and it would balance out /bh/. So maybe it was /f
> ph > h > 0/.

	I can only guess that words such as feo, falla, falta, etc. are
from a dialect that retained initial /f/ or are loanwords from other
Romance languages. Given that the Medieval literary language was
"galaico-portugue/s" [the term used in literary history] and that the
during the Renaissance, salmantino [a stylized form of Leonese close to
Castillian] was the predominant literary language, it's very possible such
words could have snuck in.

Other 'native words' with retained /f-/ are:

>_fiero_ `proud', _feo_ `ugly', _faltar_ `to lack', _fallar_ `to fail',
>_fiesta_ `festival', _fiel_ `faithful', _fin_ `end', and, among
>Germanisms, _feudo_ `fief', _forro_ `lining'.

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
MUW
Columbus MS 39701
rmccalli at sunmuw1.muw.edu