Albanian Bërtet ‘Shout’: Inner-Albanian Prehistory And Indo-European Etymology
Albanian Bërtet ‘Shout’: Inner-Albanian Prehistory And Indo-European Etymology

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the etymology of the Albanian verb bërtet ‘shout’. Most etymological analyses of this word prove to be untenable, the only exception being an insightful –though not fully developed – proposal by Mann (1977: 180). While building on Mann, I argue that Albanian bërtet is etymologically related to the rare Latin verb fritinniō ‘twitter’ and goes back to a so-far overlooked Proto-Indo-European root, namely, *bhrei̯t- ‘shout, make noise’. I offer a detailed discussion of the Albanian and Italic continuants of this root and propose that two Celtic forms (i.e., Old Irish bríathar f. ‘word’ and Middle Welsh brwydyr f. ‘battle’) may possibly also belong here etymologically.

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