R: Suffixal -sk-

[Alberto Lombardo]

[ Moderator's note:
  Alberto Lombardo is responding to a posting by Jens Elmegaard Rasmussen dated
  2 Feb 2001.
  --rma ]

>> I'd like just add that the suffix -asko is the more typical
>> locative Ligurian suffix; it seems to have had IE links.
>> The meaning must have been "high, elevated place".

> Could you elaborate on the semantic assessment? If it is the suffix of
> Italian bergamasco "from Bergamo", I find it hard to see that the
> adjective is any higher or more elevated than the base-word
> itself.

There's a big difference between the ligurian and the italian suffix. The
first one is attested in the name of many locations in the big ancient
ligurian area, and it also still exists in many names of mountains and
elevated countryside villages, like Carasco, Amborzasco, Borzonasca and so
on. The italian suffix, like in "bergamasco", must have had a more recent
source, and many different meanings too. It sounds as the general adjective
for the substantive "Bergamo". It means "from Bergamo", "of Bergamo" and
also "the area around Bergamo" (in this case it's obviously a subst.)