la leche

[Rick Mc Callister]

Muchas gracias Miguel:

	Corominas's remark that initial Spanish /c^/ is due to an "Arabized
pronunciation" strikes me as truly odd given that Arabic doesn't have /c^/
nor to my knowledge ever did. Arabic does, of course, have /k/ as well as
/q, x, h, H/.
	If this was indeed from Latin, then something different was going
on in Mozarabic.
	Initial <x-> /s^-/ from Mozarabic and Old Spanish, of course,
normally becomes <j-> /x, h-/ in modern Spanish.
	As has been pointed out several times on this list, there is the
truism that Spanish initial /x, h-/ < Old Spanish/Mozarabic /s^-/ < Latin
/s-/ is due to Arabic influence --which also strikes me as a bit odd given
that Arabic has /s/ & /S/ as well as /s^/. But given that there aren't any
better explanations out there (that I know of) . . .

	All in all, Spanish initial /c^-/ seems pretty complex.


>On Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:38:32 -0500, Rick Mc Callister
><rmccalli at sunmuw1.MUW.Edu> wrote:

>>	BTW: Does anyone know the origin of charca/charco?

>Corominas "Breve Dicc. Et. de la Lengua Cast.":

>CHARCO, 1335.  Voz comun al castellano y al portugues, de origen
>incierto; de todos modos empezo por emplearse solo en el Sur de
>Espana, donde es frecuente en la toponimia andaluza, manchega,
>valenciana y portuguesa meridional, luego se trata probablemente de
>una palabra mozarabe y seria licito sospechar que provenga en
>definitiva del lat. CIRCUS "circulo", por conducto del mozarabe
><cherco> y una pronunciacion arabizada <c^a"rko>, en el sentido de
>'charco de forma oval o aproximadamente circular' (como lo son casi
>todos); hay tambien la posibilidad de que fuese prerromano en mozarabe
>(cf. Xaraco, pueblo con una gran laguna cerca de Gandia, y el andal.
><chargue> 'remolino u olla en un rio').
>DERIV. Charca, 1604.  Encharcar, 1490.

>=======================
>Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
>mcv at wxs.nl

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701