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Art/Literary - Archaeology | | Basque term or phrase: gurpil/gurdi-bil | I'm currently doing some work on the etymology of words for 'wheel' in various European languages and am interested in Basque.
One of my sources, Larry Trask (HIstory of Basque p. 130), suggests that gurpil (wheel) is a contraction of 'gurdi' (cart) + bil, but my question is what does the 'bil' element mean.
Frankly, this etymology makes no sense to me, since 'gurpil' can also mean 'potter's wheel' - and it sounds strange to talk about a 'potter's cartwheel'.
Does bil mean anything like 'wheel', 'rotate', 'go round' or is this a false etymology? |
| Jonathan MorrisKudoZ activityQuestions: 74 (none open) ( 3 closed without grading) Answers: 330
| Local time: 19:56
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| | English translation:cart, | Explanation:
Proto Basque root bil means round. Bil added to verb marker du is part of biribildu , to make round.. cart, id est gurpil is from gurdi plus bil
The verb bildu also means to gather, like to round up, (translated from SPanish)
La raíz protovasca *biL (redondo), se encuentra hoy en biribil (redondo), biribildu (redondear), gurpil ( < *gurdi-biL, "gurdi" 'carro'), bil(du) (reunir(se), juntar(se), recoger, envolver, coleccionar,...). |
| Selected response from:
Tomasso
Local time: 14:56
| Grading comment | 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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386 days confidence:   cart,
Explanation:
Proto Basque root bil means round. Bil added to verb marker du is part of biribildu , to make round.. cart, id est gurpil is from gurdi plus bil
The verb bildu also means to gather, like to round up, (translated from SPanish)
La raíz protovasca *biL (redondo), se encuentra hoy en biribil (redondo), biribildu (redondear), gurpil ( < *gurdi-biL, "gurdi" 'carro'), bil(du) (reunir(se), juntar(se), recoger, envolver, coleccionar,...).
Example sentence(s):
Reference: http://celtiberia.net/verrespuesta.asp?idp=8390
| Tomasso
Local time: 14:56
Native speaker of:  English
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| | Notes to answerer
Asker: OK, I'll give you the points for clarifying -bil, but I find Trask's 'cart round' idea preposterous,.like many of his etymologies e,g, garau/gari, which are usually ad hoc explanations that merely serve to avoid ever admitting any external relations for Basque. I'm waiting for Lakarra to come up with something more sensible.
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