Basque <ibili>

[Larry Trask]

Hans Holm writes:

>  What about being 'bili' a loan from Gaulish?
>      PIE *kwel-  > Cel *kwi:l-   > Gaul *pi:l >!> bask. pil/bil
>   cf PIE *penque > Cel *kwinkwe  > Gaul *pimpetos (ordinal)

First, no such item as *<bili> exists in Basque.

Second, Basque *<bil> 'round' is always *<bil>, and never *<pil>, a form
which would have been impossible in Pre-Basque.  In compounds like
<gurpil> 'cartwheel', the /p/ is strictly secondary, resulting from a
well-understood internal Basque process of word-formation.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk