Vol.11, No 2, 2013 pp. 91 - 106
UDC 811.1/.2'01'373.21(450.42)
TOPONYMIC CONVERGENCE: PLACE NAMES AND THE ROOT *ALB- IN PREHISTORIC LIGURIA
Francesco Perono Cacciafoco
Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy - Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
E-mail: peronocacciafoco@flcl.unipi.it
This paper outlines a new epistemological aspect of the so-called Convergence Theory. Its aim is to develop a unified theory which would comprise all the different theories of Indo-European Linguistics. This analysis tries to "reconstruct" a sort of Italian and European "macro-area" (or "micro-area", depending on the point of view), characterized by place names related to the word-root *alb-, with a delineation of the "semantic steps" made over the centuries by this word-root. It seems that Paleo-Ligurian place names of the Alba type, together with Old European river names Albis and their later forms Olb- (> Orb- in Romance Ligurian), do not directly reflect the proto-Indo-European adjective *albho-, 'white'. On the contrary, they all seem to contain a pre-proto-Indo-European extended root *Hal-bh-, 'water', a cognate with the Sumerian ḫalbia (> Akkadian ḫalpium, 'spring', 'well', 'water mass', 'water hole'). Further analysis of the same *Hal-bh- calls for a comparison with the proto-Indo-European root *Hal-, 'nourish'. The proto-Indo-European suffixed form *HwaH-r-, 'water', exhibits a similar diffusion.
Key words: Convergence Theory; *alb-; *Hal-bh-; Liguria; Olbicella; European Prehistoric Toponymy
TOPONIMSKA KONVERGENCIJA: NAZIVI MESTA I KOREN *ALB- U PRAISTORIJSKOJ LIGURIJI
Ovaj rad bavi se novim epistemološkim aspektom takozvane Teorije konvergencije, i ima za cilj da predstavi jedinstvenu teoriju, sastavljenu od teorija različitih škola mišljenja iz oblasti Indo-Evropske lingvistike. Ovo istraživanje bilo je pokušaj da se rekonstruiše italijanska, kao i evropska "makro-oblast" (ili "mikro-oblast", zavisno od ugla posmatranja) koja se bavi nazivima mesta čiji je koren *alb-, kao i da se odrede semantičke faze kroz koje je ovaj koren prošao tokom vekova.
Ključne reči: teorija konvergencije, *alb-, *Hal-bh-, Ligurija, Olbicela, Evropska praistorijska toponimija