Plosive-liquid clusters in euskara borrowed from IE?

[Steven A. Gustafson]

Rick Mc Callister (I think) wrote:

>         <Puta> is definitely the most common and stable form
>         but <puto> goes back a long ways.
>         I don't have access to Corominas, so I can't check it
>         but the common explanations of <puta> are that
>         1) it's an abbreviation of <prostituta> or
>         2) that it's related to <poto> "butt" "piece of ass"

I think the most plausible explanation for -puta-, Fr. -putain- &c., is
to trace them back to Latin -puteo, putere-, "stink."  I suspect this is
one of those roots that comes originally from an interjection, and will
tend to be re-introduced despite the phonetic vicissitudes of any more
elaborate words compounded from it.  /pu/ is not unknown in modern
English as a reaction to a bad smell.  };-)

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Steven A. Gustafson, attorney at law
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