Dieb...? Quite a funny place for burglars, anyway.
As the Italian topographers erroneously translated after 1918 the names already erroneously translated into german around the XIV th century of former latin words themselves taken from the old celtic/ligurian/pre-celtic periods....Here is a big mess for us !.
Could be (?)...
- "Deg" . Which is an old "ladin" (rhätoromanisch) term taken for "limit/border post" (Hmmm, to be checked...), for a long skyline ridge (here between Vinschgau and Ultental) of successive summits, often was taken as a true limit signal between feodal territories, ...or between local pastures/alpine meadows. See Val di Fassa dialect, for instance, in "Mondo ladino" (majon di Fashegn, Vigo di Fassa)
- "delgo" (gallic), being taken as an equivalent of "needle", "sharp profile" = horn, aiguille, punta, Spitze
Old irish writes "delg", cornish "dalc" or "delch", old welsh says "delehid", lituanian "dilgè" but with the meaning of "nettle" in english (italiano = ortica).
These are but speculations...one should first go there, find the oldest "Bauer" of the zone, and ask him to pronounce the name of this mountain using his own dialect : that would be the only valuable "missing clue" to start a serious investigation.
As a general overview, one could look at : "Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch" Franke Verlag (Bern/München), 1969.
Claude Mauguier - Jun 22, 2005 11:50 am - Voted 10/10
Untitled CommentDieb...? Quite a funny place for burglars, anyway.
As the Italian topographers erroneously translated after 1918 the names already erroneously translated into german around the XIV th century of former latin words themselves taken from the old celtic/ligurian/pre-celtic periods....Here is a big mess for us !.
Could be (?)...
- "Deg" . Which is an old "ladin" (rhätoromanisch) term taken for "limit/border post" (Hmmm, to be checked...), for a long skyline ridge (here between Vinschgau and Ultental) of successive summits, often was taken as a true limit signal between feodal territories, ...or between local pastures/alpine meadows. See Val di Fassa dialect, for instance, in "Mondo ladino" (majon di Fashegn, Vigo di Fassa)
- "delgo" (gallic), being taken as an equivalent of "needle", "sharp profile" = horn, aiguille, punta, Spitze
Old irish writes "delg", cornish "dalc" or "delch", old welsh says "delehid", lituanian "dilgè" but with the meaning of "nettle" in english (italiano = ortica).
These are but speculations...one should first go there, find the oldest "Bauer" of the zone, and ask him to pronounce the name of this mountain using his own dialect : that would be the only valuable "missing clue" to start a serious investigation.
As a general overview, one could look at : "Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch" Franke Verlag (Bern/München), 1969.