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Jacques Deh�e skrev:
> Ave !
Salve!
>
> The etymology of Lugdunum is a latinization of the Gaulish
> Celtic place name Lugodunon.
I know.
> Gaulish was the predominant language of the region when
> conquered by the Romans.
I know this too.
> While dunon means hill fort, the source of Lug is
> uncertain.
What in my question makes you think I don't know this, or
need to be told this?
> The most commonly offered meaning is the Celtic god named
> Lug, whose messenger was the crow (lugus), and who was
> associated with the cock (rooster), ultimately to become
> the symbol of France. Most references to Mercurius in Gaul
> really refer to Lug, as he was the Celtic god that the
> Romans considered to be Mercury. Lug was popular in
> Ireland and Britain, but there is no evidence of his cult
> or worship in Lugdunum, except for the apparent use of
> crows as an early symbol of the city. An alternative
> derivation is that lug refers to the Celtic word for light
> (a cognate of Latin lux and English light), with roughly
> the same meaning as Clermont (clarus mons).
What does that have to do with the phonological changes
leading from /log'dunom/ to /ljO~/?
> During the Middle Ages,
Rather the Dark Ages.
> Lugdunum was transformed to Lyon by natural sound change.
Yes, but not, apparently the same regular sound changes
which apply to the bulk of French vocabulary, but those of a
different dialect. My question was regarding this, and not
at all regarding the derivation of Lugdunon within Celtic,
which is entirely beside the point. Fortunately I got a
helpful answer from Raymond Brown:
#> Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
#>> Does anyone have an idea how _Lugd�num_ (Vulgar Latin
#>> /log'dunom/) could become _Lyon_ /ljo~/.
#>
#> Not at the moment :)
#>
#>> It seems to violate a number of Latin-to-French sound
#>> laws! I would have expected _Loudun_ /lud9~/. Based on
#>> _frig'dus_ > _froid_ and the usual vowel developments.
#>
#> There were several other places called 'Lugdunum' in
#> Gaul. One of them is indeed _Loudun_; it's in in the
#> Vienne d�partement and in the Poitou-Charentes r�gion
#> of France.
#>
#>> Perhaps it is regular for Franco-Proven�al?
#>
#> Don't know - but clearly not every Lugdunum developed the
#> same way, since besides Lyon(s) and Loudun, we have also
#> _Laon_ in the Aisne d�partement and Lans[lebourg] which
#> IIRC is now a ski resort. Clearly we are dealing with
#> dialectal difference; we can't expect names all over Gaul
#> to have developed the same way as the sound changes of
#> Francien :)
#>
/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se
"And therefore every care must be taken that our
auxiliaries, being stronger than our citizens, may
not grow to be too much for them and become savage
tyrants instead of friends and allies."
-- Plato (The Republic, Book 2)