Suffixal -sk-

[David L. White]

[ Moderator's note:
  David White is responding to a posting by Jens Elmegaard Rasmussen dated
  2 Feb 2001.
  --rma ]

> Could you elaborate on the semantic assessment? If it is the suffix of
> Italian bergamasco "from Bergamo", I find it hard to see that the
> adjective is any higher or more elevated than the base-word
> itself.

        As /sk/ also commonly occurs in Italian river names, it is difficult
to believe that it originally meant 'high'.
        On a vaguely related point, do "Faleri-" and "Falisc-" come from
/fales/, as has been alledged, or from /falis/?  Since lowering before /r/
is a sound-change known from Latin (see especially endings in /-beris/ for
expected /-biris/), it would seem that original /i/ is more likely.

Dr. David L. White