Pre-Basque lexical items

[Larry Trask]

On Sat, 11 Sep 1999, Roslyn M. Frank wrote:

> On that note, I remember that Larry mentioned once on this list that
> /ikasi/ "to learn" was a loan word. I meant to follow that up. Can you
> explain to us the reasoning there? Thanks.

No, there must be a misunderstanding.  I don't think I've ever suggested
that Basque <ikasi> `learn, study' might be a loan word.  And I know of
no evidence to support such a conclusion.  This verb looks entirely
native; it forms a typical ancient causative <erakatsi> `teach'; and it
resembles nothing in any language known to have been in contact with
Basque.  Unless you take seriously Loepelmann's off-the-wall suggestion
that it derives from Castilian <encajar> `insert, push in' (and other
senses), which nobody does.  When you learn something, I suppose you
push it into yourself in some sense, but this etymology looks no more
plausible than most of the rest of L's suggestions.

Government health warning:

The Surgeon General has determined that reading Loepelmann's alleged
etymological dictionary of Basque is seriously damaging to mental
health.

As a dictionary, it makes a decent doorstop.  When Michelena reviewed
the book, he opened his review with one of the most wonderful dry
comments I have ever seen:

"It cannot be said that this book fills a gap."

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk