[YG Conlang Archives] > [romconlang group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
--- On Tue, 9/29/09, Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@hidden.email> wrote: > From: Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@hidden.email> > Subject: Re: [romconlang] Constructed Latin dialects > Capsicum skrev: > > I was thinking about the origin of the italian word > 'ragazzo' > > meaning boy or young man. I think it could be > 'reguardius'. Benct wrote/quoted: > Meyer-Lübke discusses several possible > derivations for _ragazzo_ a bit down in > the entry copied below. > ragazza zu ital. gazza 3640, wie schon die > Qualität des -zz- zeigt. Daher kann auch ital. > ragazzo "Knabe", ragazza , Mädchen" ZRPh., Bhft. > XXVII, 148 nicht mit den Wörtern für "Elster" > zusammenhängen. Zudem ist die älteste Bedeutung > von ragazzo (> langued. ragas "Troßknecht", > "Müllerbursche", "Hirt", ragaso "Magd") > "Pferdeknecht". And: > In the third edition he adds that Greek > ergates 'workman' "erklärt den ausgang nicht". > Some connection with the variant form _ergastes_ > or a blend with _ergaster_, also 'workman' > make the Greek connexion seem possible to me, > though. > > But in short not even Meyer-Lübke knew! > It should be noted that Romance words for > 'child, boy' generally are a bog of slangy > dysphemisms for 'rascal, urchin' anyway. > (compare English _urchin_ itself!) This is interesting. The C-a word for "youth" is rather odd -- chestu /'tS)eStU/, which derives from caestus, the Latin for "boxing glove," or at least, that's what the C-an philologists claim. Adam