«Water origins»: the *alb- root in the pre-Latin toponymy of Ancient Liguria

Abstract

Paleo-Ligurian place names of the type Alba,Old European river names Albis and the like, as well as their ablautingforms Olb- (> Orb- in Romance Ligurian) do not reflectdirectly the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) adjective *albho- ʻwhiteʼ;rather, they all continue a Pre-PIE extended root *Hal-bh- ʻwaterʼ,cognate with Sumerian ḫalbia (> Akkadian ḫalpium ʻspring,well, water mass, water holeʼ). A further analysis of the same root *Hal-bh-leads to a comparison with the PIE root *Hal- ʻnourishʼ. PIE suffixedform *HwaH-r- ʻwaterʼ exhibits a similar diffusion.