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Re: Pilovese in the Romance Language Family

From:Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Thursday, April 3, 2008, 6:34
Meyer-Lübke's "Romanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch"
rejects a connexion with PAUCUS as phonologically
untenable.  He's somewhat kinder to a connexion
with PUTUS but rejects that too on the grounds
that -INUS isn't productive in Rumanian, although
IMHO the wide spread of the word within Romance
(Ibero-Romance, Italian dialects, Balkan Romance and
borrowed into Albanian) makes that objection somewhat
doubtful.  Meyer-Lübkes conclusion is that the root of
the Spanish _pequeño_ is unknown.  I have seen it
cited elsewhere as a Wanderwort of unknown origin.

FWIW Tolkien obviously supported the Wanderwort
hypothesis: he was in the habit of providing words
of unknown origin in European languages with Elvish
etymologies, and indeed there is an Elvish _*pikina_
meaning 'small'! :-)

/BP

Scotto Hlad skrev:
> So then pequeno and poco come from the same root? I was under the > understanding that poco was from paucus and pequeno as I had described in my > previous email. Paucus gave then poco peu pauc. > > According to > http://users.servicios.retecal.es/amnuve/dicllion/dicciona/pendon.htm > > Pequeno is derived from pitzinus. Can you help me find the derivation that > you have said here? Thanks for your response :-) > > Scotto > -----Original Message----- > From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On > Behalf Of caeruleancentaur > Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 8:29 PM > To: CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu > Subject: Re: Pilovese in the Romance Language Family > >> Scotto Hlad <scott.hlad@...> wrote: > >> French: petit >> Occitan: petit >> Portuguese: pequeno >> Spanish: pequeno > >> Is there anyone that can clarify this for me and perhaps show me how >> these roots came to be pequeno? > > "Pequeno" comes from a different root, the Latin "paucus" meaning little or > few. English derivatives are paucity, Paul, paraffin, poor, foal, filly, > pony, puerile, pedo-. The PIE root is pou- or pau-. > > Charlie > > >