Dear Luisma,
You offer a number of etymologies
for toponyms in the Upper Aragon region.
You say that Laguarre
(which is a mountain range, according to my map) is laua gorri (I am
unable to translate laua).
Could the first element not be
connected to Basque leku "place"? This would be the same as
the lacu in Lacubegi (a deity recorded on a Roman era
inscription at Ujue, Navarra), the lako found in Iberian personal
names (Saldulako, Sorlako, etc), and in ancient place-names such as Lacunis
and the hybrid Lacobriga?
My hunch is that leku/lako/laku
originally meant "temple", but this was adapted to mean
"place" after Christianisation, due to the resemblance to locus.
(leku cannot easily be combined with gune if it means
"place", for that would be tautology)
leku/lako/laku should not
be confused with Basque laka/laha "brambles", often found
in the plural forms lahar/lakar. This may be the laker in
the Iberian personal name Lakerbelaur "brambles/baby crow",
and Laha, a deity recorded on five Roman era inscriptions all in
the Central Pyrenees, and may also be the first element in a number of
place-names, such as Laccuris and Lacippo.
Lacimurgi-s/Lacinimurgi-s/Lacunimurgi-s
is probably a compound comprising lako(g)une "temple place"
and mur(u)-gi "place of the small hill".
Lahara, a deity recorded
on a Roman era inscription at Irujo, Navarra, probably means
"brambles", and may even be a place-name.
Laquiniesis is a deity
recorded on a Roman era inscription at San Miguel das Caldas de Vizela,
Portugal. This may be lako-(g)une-ese "temple place
house".
On a separate matter, you link
Basque agur "greeting", with ahur "palm (of
the hand)".
You might also consider Sumerian agar
"embrace" and agur "to bend the arm".
With best wishes,
Angus J Huck
Dear Luisma,
In your fascinating page on the Mystery of
Ribagorca, you mention the Feunte del Trucio, and identify this
with Basque itturri otz "cold fountain".
This would be similar to Trucios, Bizkaia
(Turtzioz in Basque).
The disappearance of the -i- in the
first syllable is probably due to invariable second syllable stress.
(There was no additional anterior i- in most dialects of Iberian.)
In this context, you might like to consider the
deity recorded in Roman era inscriptions as Trebarona/Trebaronna/Trebaruna/Triborunna
(seven altogether), all in the Extremadura regions of Spain and
Portugal.
The tri- part is clearly + *turri
"fountain, spring". The second part, I suggest, means
"inside, within", and is connected with Basque barren/barne. The
whole would mean "within the fountain".
Another possible meaning of the second part is
"lead" (Basque berun and the beron of Iberian
personal names). But this is unlikely, because there is a Candeberonius
Caeduradius recorded at Braga, Portugal, suggesting that the form found
in the Levantine inscriptions (beron) was identical in the West of
the peninsula.
To the Iberians, lead was a precious metal, like
gold (*bal/balke/balki).
You connect Aineto with Basque agin
"yew". You might also like to consider Aginnum (Agen,
France), Eguinza (a mountain in Cantabria) and Acinippo, a
Roman town in Andalucia.
Of passing interest: South of Betorz is Ponzano
"the estate of Pontius" (as in Pontius Pilate).
Most Roman landowners, like Pontius, would have
been natives. But in order to be granted land it was necessary to take Roman
citizenship and hence a Roman personal name. The only exceptions to this
appear to be in Navarra, where we have at least three Roman estate
place-names incorporating Iberian personal names: Arginano (Argin
"stone-mason"), Belaskoain (Belasko "baby
crow") and Gartzain (Garcia "heron").
Regarding Argin, some Iberian personal
names do appear to have been occupational, for on the Ascoli bronze plate we
have Ota(r)cili(us) "basket maker", Enasagin "maker
of shuttles for the weaving industry" and Cacusin "key
keeper (ie janitor)".
Unfortunately, I canot be contacted by e-mail,
With best wishes,
Angus J Huck
PS: How about one of the strangest deity names recorded
on a Roman era inscription - Eniragillus, found at Casas de Millan,
Spain? This seems to mean "creator of swallows". Perhaps this was a
god who brought summer. Why does Basque have at least two native words for
swallow (enara and elai) but nothing for most other birds?
15-1-2003
The Mystery of Ribagorca
Dear Luisma,
On your page devoted to the Mystery of
Ribagorca, you mention a village in Upper Aragon, COLUNGO. There is also
a COLUNGA in Asturias.
While I do not have available to me the earliest
recorded versions of these names, they do appear, prima facie, to be
connected to the following classical place-names: Colenda, possibly Cuellar,
and Kolounioku (found only on a coin), possibly Clunia Sulpica.
The stem here, I suspect, is related to Basque
kulunka, an onomatopoeic word meaning "swinging, wobbling,
etc".
This same stem is also found in Britain, in the
river-names Colne, Calne, Clun, Cale Water, Collingbourne, etc. Two
of the earliest recorded examples are Colun 800, and Colenea
785.
You may also consider Greek kulindein "to
roll", which is probably a borrowing from Pelasgian (this word is the
basis of English cylinder).
(Another example of a Pelasgian borrowing in Greek
is lophos "nape of the neck" - Basque lepo.)
With best wishes,
Dear Luisma,
I have recently stated that there is a Basque
place-name, Ganba. In fact, the correct name is Ganbo, which
is both a place-name and a toponymic surname. Gama in Cantabria may
have the same origin.
I was also mistaken when I said there was a
similar word in Chechen.
The possibility of a genetic relationship between Ganbo
and Sumerian ganba "market place" requires further
investigation.
I misquoted you when I said that you had analysed
Fuente de Trucho as equivalent to Basque i-turri-otz
"cold fountain", when in fact you had said it was equivalent to iturritxo
"little fountain. i-turri-otz is in fact the analysis of
Trucios, Bizkaia.
Both are similar to the River Test in
Hampshire, the earliest recorded version of which is Terstan (the
final n is the dative marker).
The Test runs into the Solent,
where it is joined by the Itchen, and has a tributary once known as
the Wellow. All these names are Dene-Caucasian.
The Isle of Wight was known to the Romans
as Vectis. This is probably a garbled rendering of a much earlier
name, perhaps Wek(i)-di "place of the eye", the
"eye" being a tutelary deity which protected the Solent and
the lands to the north from the ravages of the sea (just as Lacubegi
is perhaps the "eye" which protects the temple", and Ameipicer
are the "eyes" which protect the mountain peak).
With best wishes,