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Re: Pequeno (was Re: Pilovese in the Romance Language Family)

From:Eric Christopherson <rakko@...>
Date:Friday, April 4, 2008, 6:25
On Apr 3, 2008, at 1:57 PM, Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> You may have noticed that I avoided stating a personal opinion, but I > actually believe there must have been a root *pik- in some substrate > language **in Italy** which got picked up into Vulgar Latin in two > different dialect forms */pikkin/ and */pik;k;in/, plus possibly an > unsuffixed form */pikk/ which then spread across the empire with VL > itself.
I think it's possible that the variation tt ~ kk ~ kk; ~ ts might have come from "childish" pronunciations of the word; Grandgent's _Introduction to Vulgar Latin_ has the same hypothesis to the variation -iclus ~ -ittus ~ -iccus. The semantics of those forms would seem to make them apt to be said in baby talk. (I remember that one time I had the same hyphothesis about the English words little ~ lickle ~ ickle, and looked up their etymologies, but now I can't find them... so I don't know if they are relevant.)
> Both /i/s of the substrate form could apparently be perceived > either long or short by Latin speakers. In Italian a change of suffix, > or the addition of a Latin suffix on the unsuffixed form gave PICCULU. > The identity of the substrate language is anybody's guess, as several > non-Indo-European languages were spoken in Italy prior to Roman > expansion. I'd bet on Etruscan, but I have no evidence for that hunch, > other than it's being the most important of those languages to Roman > history. > > 2008/4/3, Haggen Kennedy <haggenkennedy@...>: >> Hi. :) >> >> Scotto Hlad wrote: >>> So then pequeno and poco come from the same root? >> >> Er... actually no, I don't believe it does. :/ See below. >> >> >>> Pequeno is derived from pitzinus. >> >> I don't know in Spanish. In Portuguese, "pouco" comes from Latin >> "paucus"; and "pequeno" is usually (there is still a little >> dissension >> about it) ascribed to some sort of crossover between Vulgar Latin >> "pitinnus" with the root "*pikk-" (present in Italian 'piccolo', >> 'piccino'). If you read Corominas, he'll say that "pequen-" >> belongs to >> the "la vasta colección de expresiones romances de la idea de >> pequeñez >> (it. pìccolo, piccìno, fr. petit, sardo pithinnu, gascón pouninn, >> etc.) >> constituídas todas ellas por una p inicial, seguida, por lo común, de >> vocal aguda, otra oclusiva sorda y en la terminación -innu. En latín >> vulgar se encuentra ya pitinnus, y en las formas hispánicas esta >> variante se presenta combinada con la consoante interna del tipo >> piccolo." (translating: pequen- belongs to the wide collection of >> romance expressions of littleness (it. pìccolo, piccìno, fr. petit, >> sardo pithinnu, gascón pouninn, etc.), constituted, all of them, >> of an >> initial P, usually followed by an acute vowel, of another unvoiced >> occlusive and of the ending -innu. In Vulgar Latin, there already >> exists >> [the word] pitinnus, and, in the Hispanic model, this variant >> presents >> itself combined with the inner consonant of the type "piccolo".) >> >> Corominas is Spanish, but what he said is true for Portuguese as >> well - >> the process he mentioned has existed in Portuguese since the very >> origins of the language, in words like apequenado, empequenecer, >> pequename, pequenete, pequenote etc. >> >> >> >> >> Benct Philip Jonsson wrote: >>> Meyer-Lübke's "Romanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch" >>> rejects a connexion with PAUCUS >> >> I personally agree. >> >> >> >>> Meyer-Lübkes conclusion is that the root of >>> the Spanish _pequeño_ is unknown. >> >> As far as I know, there isn't a consensus yet, although most Romance >> etymologists tend to agree that it comes from the source I mention in >> the beginning of this e-mail. I actually agree with that view myself. >> >> Peace, >> Ken :) >> > > > -- > / BP

Replies

Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>
ROGER MILLS <rfmilly@...>
Scotto Hlad <scott.hlad@...>