Basque <burkila>

[Larry Trask]

Miguel C V writes:
 
> [*] Because the Hittite word for wheel is <hurki-> (which, according
> to G & I has a derivative <hurkel-> "crime" [the wheel as a
> torturing device?]), I was slightly shocked to find <burkila>
> "spinning wheel" while browsing through Azkue's Basque disctionary.
> A Basque-Hittite connection is ridiculous of course, but
> *wrg-/*wrgh-/*wrk- are good IE roots for "to turn", and a Celtic
> connection would not be all that far-fetched.  But as far as I can
> tell, the Celtic words for "spinning wheel" are derived from the
> other variant *wer-t- (OIr. fertas, We.  gwerthyd).  Just to set my
> mind at ease, a question for Larry: what do Agud and Tovar say?
 
The Basque word <burkila> (and many variants) `spinning wheel' is
entirely confined to the French Basque and Pyrenean dialects, a
distribution which often points to an Occitan source.  Agud and Tovar
unhesitatingly follow Rohlfs and Corominas in deriving the word from
Latin <furcilla(m)> `little two-pronged fork', diminutive of
<furca(m)> `two-pronged fork', or from some Occitan development of
this.  The key point, established by Rohlfs, is that a Gascon spinning
wheel always has a two-pronged fork on top of it.
 
Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK
 
larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk