“barba” inMartalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974)Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo
Ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*bʰardʰéh₂(“beard”). Since PIE*bʰ normally became[f] at the start of a Latin word, the initial[b] calls for some explanation. It is generally attributed to long-distance regressive assimilation in voicing and/or manner of articulation (e.g. *farb- > barb-).
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Katz (1998 and 2006:335-337) identifies one other potential example of this sound change,berber (found only in theCarmen Arvale; interpreted by Katz as meaning "firm", cognate tofirmus, from*dʰer-), and proposes the sound law*fVrb- > bVrb-, noting it has no apparent counterexamples.[1] This sound law is also endorsed by Weiss 2018:439-440 (citing Katz 2006), with the same examples, although Weiss prefers to interpretberber as meaning 'at every door' and derive it from*dʰwer-(“door, gate”) via*dʰwer-dʰwer (citing Weiss 2017 and Ligorio 2012).[2] On the other hand, De Vaan 2008, citing Driessen 2001, considers this rule ad hoc.[3] For comparison,fiber from*bʰébʰrus (with the similar but not identical shapefVbr-) shows a lack of assimilation (Katz 2006:336).[1]
Previously, Weiss 2009 suggested the alternative of deriving the */b-/ via long-distance aspirate dissimilation ("limited Latin Grassmann's Law") turning*bʰardʰeh₂ into*bardʰeh₂.[4]
De Vaan reconstructsProto-Italic *farβā on the assumption that Italianfarfecchie is borrowed from a cognate word in another Italic language. If this reconstruction is correct, then the assimilation discussed above must have postdated the common Italic stage.
↑1.01.1Katz, Joshua T. (2006) “The "'Urbi et Orbi'-Rule" Revisted”, inJournal of Indo-European Studies, The, volume34, number3 & 4
^Weiss, Michael (2018) “Limited Latin Grassmann's Law: Do We Need It?”, in Dieter Gunkel, Stephanie W. Jamison, Angelo O. Mercado and Kazuhiko Yoshida, editors,Vina Diem Celebrent: Studies in Linguistics and Philology in Honor of Brent Vine, Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press: “Thus nothing stands in the way of positing a regular assimilation of *fVrb to *bVrb with one certain and one speculative example.”
^De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “berber”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page70
^Weiss, Michael L. (2009)Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin[1], Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press,→ISBN, page156
“barba”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“barba”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"2. BARBA", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book[2], London:Macmillan and Co.
to grow one's hair, beard long:promittere crinem, barbam
“barba”, inHarry Thurston Peck, editor (1898),Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
“barba”, inWilliam Smith et al., editor (1890),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “barba”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page69
