Spanish substrate/A

[Rick Mc Callister]

>On Thu, 11 Mar 1999, Rick Mc Callister wrote:

>> artesa "type of box" 1330 "cajón cuadrilongo de madera que es más
>> angosto hacia el fondo" pre-rom.; [c]
>> v. vasco artesi "grieta, agujero" [c]

>Coromines, Onomasticon Cataloniae, s.v. Artesa (de Segre) glosses the
>Spanish word `pastera, conca de fe`nyer pa etc.' [kneading trough] and
>suggests the toponym may be a metaphorical application of the
>(pre-Romance) common noun seen in Spanish (otherwise absent from
>Catalan). S.v. Artana he lists several other pre-Romance toponyms in
>-esa from Catalan territory: Olesa, Albesa, Manresa, Ardesa, Utxesa,
>Montesa, Anesa.

[snip]

	I'm trying to imagine what a kneading trough looks like --in
conjunction with <artesa>.
	In Pequeño Larrouse, I seem to remember accompanying <artesa> a
picture of a basket-like contraption with 2 rectangular rims [both rounded
off] and no bottom; the upper rim was about twice the size of the lower
one. There was no indication of size or use.
	Now I'm trying imagine how this can relate to a toponym, could it
be a box canyon?