Dear Luisma,

Thanks for putting my e-mails on the web.

Perhaps I should take this opportunity to say which of Dr Arnaiz-Villena's Basque/Berber comparisons I think are justified.

First of all let's dispose of one or two Berber words which are clearly Afro-Asiatic (though not Arabic borrowings): berra "outside", idim "blood" and isem "name".

Then let's sift out the Latin and Arabic borrowings which have found their way into the list: bawen "bean", fulka "falcon", qardasz "to card", teffah "apple" (and no doubt one or two more).

aggur "disc" is interesting. It is, in my opinion, related to the gur- in Basque gur-di "cart" and gur-pil "wheel" (Iberian *kordo/gurdi and *korbil/kurmil), but it is not a loanword from Iberian. Both words share a common origin. Indeed, *gur- "circle, disc, etc" is found in many language families, including Indo-European (eg, Greek guros).

Berber words in this list which I believe are genuine Iberian loanwords are the following:-

(1) abelu/afelu "beast of burden".

Basque abere/abel-, Iberian abel/abere (*abel was the usual freestanding form).

(2) aderar "mountain peak".

Basque adar "horn". The Iberian form is unrecorded, but may be presumed to be identical to Basque, given the forms borrowed into Celtic and Latin.

(3) amalu "dark gash".

Basque amil "chasm" (usually, but not exclusively, Bizkaian). Iberian *amil/amal. Note the presence of this stem in place-names like Amalfi (Italy) "at the bottom of the chasm" and Ambleside (Cumbria) - named after the small defile at the side of which the town is built. Also Millau (France).

(4) aran "flour".

Basque irin "flour".

(5) askor "axe".

Basque aiz-kor-a "axe", Iberian *askor (presumed, but unrecorded).

(6) berzan "black".

Basque beltz "black", Iberian *bels/mels.

The final sibilant is a fossilised marker equivalent in meaning to English "-ness". The word was originally a noun, but came to replace the adjective, which was *bel. The *bel stem is preserved is words like ar-bel "black rock, ie, slate", or-bel "black leaf, ie, dead leaves", goi-bel "black height, ie, sad", etc.

*bel is probably ultimately cognate with Proto- Indo-European *mela (melanoma, etc.)

(7) cesir and seccu "scrub".

Basque sasi brambles. Iberian *sasa/sasi/sarsa/sarsi (hence Spanish zarza).

cesir is likely to derive from Iberian *sas-ar "bramble patch".

(8) galla "plough".

Basque golde "plough". The anticipated Iberian form is *kuldi/guldi, but is unrecorded.

In Basque, ahe and nabas also mean "plough". The former is recorded in an ancient source as *ake.

When discussing ploughs, we do have to bear in mind that ploughs with metal ploughshares capable of cutting clay only came on stream in the Iron Age.

(9) garum "bread".

Basque gari "wheat" (ultimately cognate with English grass).

(10) gemi "plant shoot".

Basque gimu/kimu "plant shoot".

Note the Cevennes mountain range in Languedoc (Cebennus/Cemennus), and Mons Ciminus north of Rome.

(11) iri "race, people".

Basque erri, iri, uri, ili. Iberian *ili/uli/iri/uri.

BUT, Semitic has a similar word, though this may be a Sumerian loanword.

(12) iuba "lord".

Basque jabe "master". Iuba is, of course, the name of a Berber chieftain of the Roman period.

Attempts to connect jabe with jaun/jaur- are implausible, in my opinion.

(13) mumu "mischievous spirit, ghost".

Basque momo "ghost".

(14) sagi "vulture".

Basque sai "vulture". Iberian *sai, as in Saepo (a town in a region of southern Spain famous for the griffon vulture). There may have been a weak intervocalic -g-.

(15) ugi "food".

Basque ogi "bread".

(16) urcia "god".

Basque ortzi, a generic term for deities (note that not one recorded deity has this name).

(17) urumi "strawberry".

Basque (m)arrubi "strawberry".

araba "punishment" is interesting, but the meaning shift is too radical to be credible.

Basque araba "straight, upright" is a native word of great antiquity, which was used as a personal name in Hispano-Celtic (Arabus). Its meaning is identical to Iberian *sosin, which was used as a compound element in Iberian personal names.

With best wishes,

Angus J Huck