Roumania, alligators, "this here" (was: Just a Little Taste ...)

Raymond A. Brown wrote:

> In unstressed syllables the pattern was simpler, but the details differ for
> western & eastern Romance.
This seems like a good place to ask: is there any accounting for
the form "Roumania/Rumania" in English, from the French "Roumanie"?
In other words, why the [u] in the first syllable?

The Romanian spelling has been "Romania", with a-circumflex (meaning
a high central vowel normally written i-circumflex) since the
adoption of the Latin alphabet in the 19th century.

> (I'm
> pretty sure there was a bit of Arabic influence in getting the Italian 'il'
> and Spanish 'el' instead of 'lo' [I know the latter is used in Spanish as a
> neuter article :) ], so this is maybe not implausible).
If so, why were all those Arabic nouns borrowed with al- prefix intact?
Apparently al- was not felt by Old Spanish speakers as an article,
any more than "el/al" was felt by English speakers as an article in
"alligator" < "el lagarto".

(And then there's American slang *hoosegow* 'prison' < "juzgado".)

> cf.
> colloquial English "this 'ere").
Pronounced [DISj@R] in my dialect.

--
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)