The taurus problem

p. 113

Remove taurus example from main text. and add fn.

taurus ‘bull’ would be a good example of *au̯ since its cognates definitely reflect that diphthong (Gk. ταῦρος, Alb. ter, OCS turŭ ‘aurochs’ SCr. tȗr ‘bull’, Lith. taũras ‘aurochs’, OPr. tauris ‘bison’, Lusit. taurom (Cabeço das Fráguas)), and in fact the Balto-Slavic intonations make it probable that the word has an au̯ of non laryngeal origin. But taurus contravenes another Latin sound change namely that *-Vu̯RV- metathesizes to -VRu̯V- (see p. xxx). It is probable therefore that taurus, like bōs, is a Sabellic loanword. The word is attested in both Osc. ταυρομ  (Lu 25 = ImIt Vibo 2) and Umb. toru acc. pl. (VIb 43) and well represented in Sabellic place names like Taurasia (mentioned as a place in Samnium in the epitaph of Scipio Barbatus), and Taurania (present-day Pagani, Salerno).

See Poccetti 2014:347.

Pocetti, Paolo. 2014. “L’ ‘identità variabile’ dell’Italia preromana: tradizioni, ideologie e loro riflessi moderni.” In Da Italìa a Italia. Le radici di un’identità. Atti del cinquantunesimo convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia, 321­–59. Taranto: Istituto per la Storia e l’Archeologia della Magna Grecia.

p. 170  Replace B with:

Lat. taurus ‘bull’ does not undergo this sound change and give the expected †taruus. Therefore taurus probably is a loanword, perhaps from Sabellic *tauros. See p. xxx. Interestingly the Celtic cognates do reflect a *taru̯os (Gaul. taruos a divine name, OIr. tarb ‘bull’, MW tarw ‘bull’, Celtiberian tarvoduresca (HEp 2001:628), an adjective derived from a town *tarvodurom vel sim.). Since there is no parallel sound change in Celtic, the form of this word is usually explained as the result of the influence of the Celtic word for ‘deer’ *karu̯os (MW carw etc.)