Basque burna, bürno “plant shoot”

Azkue lists the following:

(Z) burna “the first sprout of the seed when it germinates”

(Z) bürno “plant shoot, handful of wheat”

(BN-Amikuze, Z) burnatü “to sprout”

(Z) bürnatü “to produce Brussels sprouts in the field or in the house”

Basque has a lot of words that mean “plant shoot”, certainly more than English, so one suspects that some of these words had earlier meanings that denoted larger plant parts or whole plants.

These forms listed by Azkue are isolated in the far north-east of the language area and are missing from Basque onomastics.

However, there is a possibility that Basque burna, bürno has a cognate in Italian Vasconic that is preserved in the following Latin dendronyms:

laburnum “laburnum” (usually Laburnum anagyroides)

viburnum “wayfaring tree” (Viburnum lantana)

laburnum is a small tree with a bright yellow flower that blooms in May. The wayfaring tree is a large shrub with a white flower and bright red berry that in the UK grows mainly on chalk and is often found close to roads and pathways.

If -burnum is a common component to laburnum and viburnum, what does it mean? It means nothing in Latin, so it is likely to be Italian Vasconic.

Italian Vasconic *la-burnV could possibly be a compound comprising *burnV as the second element and Italian Vasconic *lapa or *lapaR as the first element: <*lapa-burnV or *lapaR-burnV.

One of the most obvious and unproblematic Italian Vasconic substrate loanwords in Latin is lapis, lapidis “stone”. This word was also present in Pelasgian, hence Greek lepas “bare rock, hill” and lapare “flank, loins” (originally, perhaps “mountainside, cliff”).

Compare the following Basque words, listed by Azkue:

(B-Durango) labar “edge of a precipice”

(B-Arratia-Markina) labar “rugged terrain”

-ar is the Vasconic fossilised collective suffix, -ar, while laba- refers to an exposed area of rock. Contrast Greek lepas and lapare. Proto-Vasconic medial /b/ remains /b/ in Basque and Iberian, but become /p/ in Pelasgian and Italian Vasconic and /v/ in British Vasconic.

Italian Vasconic *wi-burnV might possibly be a compound comprising *burnV and an Italian Vasconic *wi “two”. The wayfaring tree is characterised by pairs of stalks stretching out of the branch directly opposite each other. *wi- could also be a reduction of an Italian Vasconic *widi “road, pathway”. As mentioned above, the wayfaring tree is frequently to be found next to roads and pathways.

So what does Italian Vasconic *burnV mean? In primaeval Europe, small trees like laburnum and the wayfaring tree could only grow on cliffs or other exposed areas of rock. They were not understorey trees. They would not fare well on the floor of the wildwood. I suggest that Italian Vasconic *burnV is therefore likely to mean “shrub”. Latin laburnum is a shrub that grows on exposed rock faces while viburnum is a shrub that grows alongside ways, as it is in English.