Non-IE roots in Germanic/@, a, e, i, j, o, u

[Larry Trask]

On Sun, 21 Feb 1999, Rick Mc Callister wrote:

> Here's the first batch. I know there have to be more out there. I
> included Watkin's remarks re words he sees as IE. I didn't go too
> far into Theo Vennemann's explanations because his work is
> accessible. I would appreciate corrections since I read Theo's
> German works with a dictionary and may have missed some things.

A few comments on the Basque comparanda:

> aduso:/n, adusso:/n > adesa [OE] > adze
> [?rel. to Basque haitz "stone, rock", aitzur "adze"]
> [< ?Vasconic *aDiz < *anitsa < *kanis; aDiz-to "flint knife"]
> [mcv3/97--cit. Michelena]

In modern Basque, <haitz> means `crag', though there is good evidence
from compounds that it formerly meant `stone'.  The word <haitzur> means
`mattock', not `adze'.  The strictly Roncalese word <ainzto> ~ <aizto>
`knife' (*not* `flint knife'), like <haitzur> and a couple of other tool
names, *may* contain <haitz>, but this is not certain.

> aecse [OE] > ax, axe
> [< ?Vasconic"; see Basque aizkora "axe, hatchet"] [tv95, tv97]

I think everyone agrees that Basque <haizkora> `ax' is a loan from Latin
<asciola> `hatchet'.  The Latin word would have been borrowed as
*<azkola>; the [h] is a suprasegmental feature in Basque; the */l/ would
have undergone the categorical early medieval change of intervocalic /l/
to /r/; and the diphthongization of /a/ to /ai/ in an initial syllable
is a familiar though sporadic in Basque: compare <saindu> `sacred,
holy', from some Romance development of Latin <sanctu>.

> aithei "mother" [Gothic] [< ?Vasconic"] [tv97]

Basque `mother' is <ama> and nothing else.

> aliso/eliso > *alisa: [Celtic], *alisa [Gothic] > Erle f., aller > alder;
> ?aliso [Spanish];
> [< Vasconic?, e.g. Basque altza]
> [acc. cw < IE *ei- "red, brown"] [g&i, tv1/99]
> [?rel to ellen, ellaern [OE] > elder? cw]

It is widely suspected that Basque <altza> shares a common origin with
the IE `alder' word, but nothing can be concluded.

> ang-ra-m "pasture, grassland" > Anger "pasture-ground"
> [< ?Vasconic"; see Basque angio, angi, angia "meadow";
> rel. rejected by Trask] [lt, tv97]

Indeed, and by most others.  Basque <angio> has a very odd form for a
native word, with that final /io/; it doesn't look native, and a Celtic
origin is widely suspected, though nothing can be established with
confidence.

> ankle, Enkel < anka "Hinterhaupt, blied" [OHG]; hanka [Germanic] > ?Romance
> hancha "hip", >
> haunch
> [< ?Vasconic;
> see Basque anka, hanka "foot, lower extremity of animal"] [tv95]

No.  This word derives ultimately from Frankish *<hanka> `haunch', a
western Germanic word preserved today in Dutch as <hanke> `haunch'.
The Frankish word (or a cognate Germanic word) was borrowed into
Gallo-Romance, where it is the source of Old French and modern French
<hanche> (itself the source of English `haunch'), and of Spanish <anca>
`haunch, rump' and of Italian <anca> `haunch, hip'.  The Romance word
was borrowed into Basque; in French Basque today it means `haunch,
rump'; in one corner of the French Basque Country it has acquired the
additional sense of `leg'; south of the Pyrenees it variously means
`rump', `leg, foot, paw'.  I consider this decisive.

> arnuz, aro:/n > Aar, earn "eagle" [OE]
> [< ?Afro-Asiatic "Atlantic";
> see Akk. arû;
> but see also Basque arrano] [tv97]

Indeed, but the Basque word must derive from *<aRaNo> -- that is,
*<arranno>.

> athnam "year [dat. pl.] [Gothic], annus [Latin]
> [< ?Vasconic"] [tv97]

Eh?  The universal Basque word for `year' is <urte>.

> Eidam, a*um "son-in-law" [< ?Vasconic"] [tv97]

Mysterious.  The Basque for `son-in-law' is <suhi> ~ <suin>, safely
reconstructible as *<suni>.

> Eisvogel "kingfisher" [OE i:searn "ice eagle"]
> [< Vasconic?, rel. to Halcyon?;
> < root similar to *iz-arano "water eagle",

An illusion.  The putative Basque *<iz> `water' does not exist.  This
was a fantasy propagated by Azkue nearly a century ago but demolished by
Michelena.  The universal Basque word for `water' is <ur>.

> *izar-arno "star bird"] [mcv, tv1/99]

Well, <izar> is `star', all right, but what's this "<arno>"?  The
`eagle' word again?

> *i:sarno [Celtic, Germanic] > iron, Eisen n.
> [< ?Vasconic *isar "star";
> see Basque izar "star"] [mcv2/98, tv2/98]

No comment.

> i:sa > Eis, ice
> [< ?Vasconic", e.g. Basque izoz- "frost, ice"] [tv97]

But Basque <izotz> `frost, ice' almost certainly contains <hotz> `cold'
as its second element.  Best guess for the first is <ihintz> ~ <intz>
`dew', from *<initz>.  Compare western Basque <intzigar> `hoarfrost',
which *appears* to be (but may not be) western <intz> `dew' plus western
<igar> `dry'.  (Basque compounds are head-final, except that an
adjective follows a head noun.)

> oak, Eiche
> [< ?Vasconic; see Basque agin "evergreen oak"]

Well, the most widespread Basque name for this tree is <arte>.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk