IE-Semitic connections

[manaster at umich.edu]

On Thu, 4 Feb 1999, Larry Trask wrote:

> On Mon, 1 Feb 1999, Glen Gordon wrote:

> [on Basque <sei> `six', <zazpi> `seven']

> > Whoops almost missed that one. Good thing I re-read. Basque? This brings
> > up that ugly topic again of where Basque got those numbers from. I
> > fathomed that they are perhaps some kind of Late Latin/Romance borrowing
> > out of a blind guess. Larry Trask would know but he's probably busy
> > battling Bengtson's Dene-Caucasian theory right now :)

> I've already commented on <zazpi>.  As for <sei>, a Romance source looks
> very implausible.  All the western Romance languages appear to retain
> some kind of final sibilant in the word for `six', and hence a loan into
> Basque should have produced something like *<seits> or *<zeitz> or maybe
> *<seis>, but not the observed <sei>.  Probably a chance resemblance.

> Larry Trask

I completely agree re <sei> and Romance.  Is this a chance resemblance
between Larry and me?

AMR