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From: peter@statsci.com (Peter Schumacher)
Subject: Re: Latin ALBVS, Semitic LBN [was Re: albino
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References: <3qopna$qcq@silver.scs.unr.edu> <D9xJ5E.G6t@midway.uchicago.edu> <D9yoCF.24x@actcom.co.il> <D9yy68.IJ4@midway.uchicago.edu> <173BA11D44S86.JAREA@ukcc.uky.edu> <3riilu$r60@kralle.zdv.Uni-Mainz.DE>
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 09:27:39 GMT
Lines: 35

knappen@kph.Uni-Mainz.DE (Joerg Knappen) writes:

>In article <173BA11D44S86.JAREA@ukcc.uky.edu>, JAREA@ukcc.uky.edu writes:
>:In article <D9yy68.IJ4@midway.uchicago.edu>
>:deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) writes:
>: 
>:>Is there an>Indo-Europeanist out there who can fill us in
>: on the PIE root of ALBVS?
>:>
>:Probably the simplest answer (not chatting about laryngeals, the status
>:of the so called voiced aspirates etc.) is:   albh-

>Which would be consistent with the following cognates I found in 
>,,der kleine Stowasser'' (latin-german dictionary):

>Lat. albus   Umbr.-Osc.: alfom    Gr.: alphos


>However, the indoeuropean evidence is still thin, no indoaryan,
>german or slavonic cognate yet. Therefore an early semitic cannot
>yet be excluded.


Forgive my naivete, but I find it difficult to accept that the Romans
didn't have a perfectly good native word for "white" before they
encountered non-Indo-European cultures, or that they should have changed
it once they had. How can this be? I'm being serious, here.


Peter Schumacher
peter@statsci.com
-- 

Peter Schumacher
peter@statsci.com
