Pre-Indo-European Relics: the *borm- Root in the Pre-Latin European Context
Pre-Indo-European Relics: the *borm- Root in the Pre-Latin European Context

Summary/Abstract: This paper provides an innovative hermeneutic interpretation of the possible pre-Indo-European origins of the root *borm- (> *bormo), meaning ‘warm water’, ‘hot water’, according to a new convergent approach. The stem *borm- (> *bormo) is considered, in this study, as not directly related to the (proto-)Indo-European root *gʷhermó- / *gʷhormo-, meaning ‘warm’, ‘hot’. It could be, rather, a trace of the pre-Indo-European linguistic substrate, with the voiced bilabial (/b/) phonetic treatment of the voiced aspirate labiovelar consonant *GwH. The presumably pre-Indo-European root *borm- (> *bormo) would have been, over time, transferred (after the possible ‘arrival’ of the Indo-Europeans in their European territories) in the linguistic system of (proto-)Indo-European through a process of reuse and refunctionalization of roots and (loan-)words due to linguistic contact. Phonetically adapted to the (proto-)Indo-European standards and equated with the stem *gʷhermó- / *gʷhormo-, the root *borm- (> *bormo) could have been preserved in the hydronymy and toponymy of North-Western Italy, for instance in the river name Bòrmida (water course flowing between Liguria and Southern Piedmont) and in the place name Bòrmio (small town located in Lombardy).

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