ara/ndano

[Max W Wheeler]

On Mon, 15 Mar 1999, Rick Mc Callister wrote:

> > arándano [ara/ndano] "blueberry" 1726, s. XI "adelf" [sic] < ¿?, [c]
> > compara con vasco arán [ara/n] "endrino" [c]
> > pre-rom. raíz de arán [rai/z de ara/n] [c]

> Basque <aran> `plum' resembles various words in both Romance and Celtic,
> but no direction of borrowing seems to be phonologically plausible.
> According to the standard etymological dictionaries, the Romance words
> require *<agranio>, while the Celtic ones require *<agrinja> -- neither
> of which looks like an obvious relative of Basque <aran>.

> btw: what are the other forms in Romance & Celtic?

High Aragonese <aran~o'n>, <arango'n>; Catalan <aranyo'> (var.
<agranyo'>, <agrinyo'>, <agrenyon>, <arango'>, <garranyo'>, <garanyo'>;
Oc gascon/lengadocian <aranhon> (var. <iranhon>, <uranhon>, <anheron>,
<agranhon>), Oc gasc (Aran) <granhon>, Oc <agrena>, <agrina>, <agruna>,
<agrune`la>; all `sloe'. Mozarabic <aranqu:n> ?

OIr <airne>, W <eirin(-en)> `plum', W <aeron> (pl.) 'fruits, berries';
MBret <irin> NBret <hirin> `sloe'

Coromines suggests three base forms: *agri:nia, *agranio. *agrena; and
mentions that Pokorny related the Celtic forms with Goth <akran>
`fruit', OE <aekern> `acorn' CSl <(j)a'goda> `small fruit, berry' Lit
<u'oga> id., 'cherry'.

He suggests that Biskaian <okaran> `plum' may be < *okran < *akran <
*agranio, influenced by <oko> `bunch of fruits' and other words in
<ok-> where <ok-> is < <ogi> `bread'. (How does that grab you, Larry,
Miguel?)

He doubts a connection between Basque <aran> and Sp <ara'andano>, Ptg
<arando> 'bilberry' beyond the possibility of (a cognate of) the latter
having influenced the transformation of *agranio > <aran>.

Coromines's account of *agr- > <ar-> in the Aragonese, Cat., WOc etc.
forms, while not without parallels, is somewhat ad hoc.

Max
___________________________________________________________________________
Max W. Wheeler <maxw at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1273 678975; fax: +44 (0)1273 671320
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