Linguistic Society of America

Romance Etymologies
Author(s): C. C. Rice
Source: Language, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Sep., 1935), pp. 238-241
Published by: Linguistic Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/408896
Accessed: 10-06-2017 05:55 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

Linguistic Society of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Language

This content downloaded from 140.206.154.232 on Sat, 10 Jun 2017 05:55:54 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 ROMANCE ETYMOLOGIES

C. C. RICE
CATAWBA COLLEGE

[Etymologies are offered for avali, canhos, gofo, migrarse, mucca, potiron.]

Provengal avalir 'to disappear', along with Catalan abalir 'to destroy',
has been derived by Spitzer' from Latin abolIre 'to abolish'. The con-
jecture is recorded with a bare question-mark by Meyer-Liibke; and it
is indeed very questionable in view of its phonetic irregularity; besides,
there is no distinct evidence of the survival of this Classic Latin word
in Vulgar Latin.
Avalir is more probably cognate with Old French avaler 'to lower',
'to descend', a derivative of vallum 'valley'. This etymology involves
no phonetic irregularity, but only a different conjugation and a shift of
the meaning from that of 'to lower' to those of 'to disappear' and 'to
destroy'. In fact these three verbs may be said to be semantically
related, if we consider that 'disappearing' is often a result of 'lowering'
or sinking out of sight; and 'destroying' may be conceived as a result
of 'lowering' taken in the sense of 'throwing down'.
If this etymology is correct, Catalan abalir, in view of its single 1,
must be regarded as a Provengal loanword. Its spelling with a b may
be ascribed to the influence of Latin abolare.

Portuguese canhos 'table scraps' was derived by Vianna2 from *canius

'canine'. Meyer-Liibke declares this semantically difficult; but there
seems to be no insuperable difficulty in connecting the meaning 'canine'
with the meaning 'table scraps', if we recall the commonness of the
custom of giving table scraps to dogs. Meyer-Liibke's tersely stated
objection may be due to the fact that the suffix -ius, confused in
Vulgar Latin with the suffix -eus, is usually added to designate some-
thing made of the thing designated by the primitive noun; so that
*canius might have meant originally 'made of the dog', like the Greek

ra KELCa 'dog's flesh', instead of 'intended for the dog', 'dog's food'.
1 See Romanisches Etymologisches Worterbuch3 33a.
2 Apostilos 1.223; Meyer-Lfibke, REW3 1595a.
238

This content downloaded from 140.206.154.232 on Sat, 10 Jun 2017 05:55:54 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 ROMANCE ETYMOLOGIES 239

However, the Vulgar Latin suffix in question

merely association or connection, not material
'many-colored' from gallus 'rooster', and in *f
'thief'; Vulgar Latin formations listed in Meye
supported by Romance formations.

Italian goffo 'loutish' is derived by Diez,3 fo

Greek Kc~4b's 'blunt', 'stupid'. But Meyer-Liib
etymon does not explain the if, posits an onom
he also remarks that Norwegian guff 'fat perso
'fool', pointed out in this connection by Brau
reasons be rejected as etyma.
Meyer-Ltibke's derivation of the Italian word
poetic guff, being quite unsupported by argu
probable. On the other hand, the phonology
Kcw4bs may be readily defended by quoting M
in his Italienische Grammatik 153, he gives fi
doubling, the first four of which seem quite
< cito, brutto < brutum, mecco < moechus, an
In fact, he here states that book-words adopt
apparently lengthen the consonant. Italian mucco 'mucus' < mucus
may also be noticed in this connection. These phonological parallels,
whatever be their ultimate explanation, seem to me sufficiently numerous
to render the etymology goffo < KWOOS very probable.

Catalan migrarse 'to be bored', 'to languish', has been derived by

Spitzer7 from migrare 'to wander'. Meyer-Liibke thinks the derivation
improbable, since it involves the assumption that migrarse is a book-
word. Indeed, the shift of meaning postulated seems very unlikely in
the case of a purely learned word.
The Catalan verb is more probably connected with migranya 'head-
ache'. While its formation is not normal, it is much like that of Pistojan
rogare 'to threaten loudly' from arroganza 'arrogance'.8 The process in
question is back formation; the analogy of campanya : campar :: mon-
tanya : montar may also be noted.

3 Etym. Wtb. d. rom. Spr. 186.

4 Studi Romanzi 4.168.
5 REW3 3907.
6 Zeitschr. f. rom. Phil. 18.514.
SSee reference in Meyer-Liibke, REW3 s.v. migrare.
8 Salvioni, ZfrPh. 28.186; Meyer-Liibke, REW* 55.

This content downloaded from 140.206.154.232 on Sat, 10 Jun 2017 05:55:54 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 240 C. C. RICE

The sense 'to be bored' ma

proposed, by assuming a se
to prick 'to feel a sharp pa
ment'. The Diccionari de
castellana (Barcelona, perh
ings 'to shrivel up', 'to bec
derivation of which from t
sent no difficulty.

Italian mucca 'milch cow

alleged onomatopoetic *mu
suggest the lowing of a cow
on this basis, and Meyer-Liib
The word is more probabl
'mucus', which gives Itali
compare Italian moccichino
same Latin stem.

Modern Provengal boutareu, poutarel, poutaro9 'mushroom', and

French potiron 'edible mushroom', 'pumpkin' (also appearing in th
phrase courge potiron 'pumpkin') are derived by Schuchardt'o from Arabic
fu(r 'toadstool'; but he admits that Arabic fe should give French and
Provengal f, not p. His conjecture that the Arabic word, which has
Semitic cognates like Aramaic petfirotd, may have been brought to
France by Jewish or Arabic physicians, does not suffice to render the
etymology phonetically or historically plausible, notwithstanding Ga
millscheg'si" proposal of the indefensible Syriac cognate padtrta, which
he sets down as the etymon of French potiron.
I posit the Vulgar Latin type *pottarellu < *pottu 'pot' +- the double
suffix -arellu. Adams12 gives three adjectival examples of the suffix
-arel; Meyer-Libke'3 mentions five French examples of the use of the
suffix -rellu. As for the sense, the tops of mushrooms may be said to
resemble small inverted pots; or the original sense may have been
adjectival-'a little (vegetable) for the pot'. The initial consonant of
the variant boutareu may easily be attributed to the influence of boutarel
(Old Provengal botarel) 'little cask'. The variant poutaro is due to the

9 Mistral's spelling.
10 Z. f. rom. Phil. 28.156; recorded without dissent by Meyer-Ltibke, REW3.
11 Et. Wb. d. frz. Spr., 1928.
12 Word-formation in Provengal 402.
13 Rom. Gram. 2.545.

This content downloaded from 140.206.154.232 on Sat, 10 Jun 2017 05:55:54 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 ROMANCE ETYMOLOGIES 241

dropping of -ellu, the stem left being pottar- ins

The u (ou) < 5 in all the Provengal forms is
pourta, dormire > dourmi.
French potiron represents an augmentative ty
the diminutive *pottarellu. The pretonic vowe
to some associative interference, such as that o

This content downloaded from 140.206.154.232 on Sat, 10 Jun 2017 05:55:54 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms