The lamino-alveolar sibilant [s] <z> isn't a native consonant in Basque at word-initial, its possible sources being these ones:
1) The retention of an etymological sibilant in non-standard varieties vs. its loss in standard Basque, as in zapo 'toad' (a loanword from Semitic *ɬ’abb- 'a kind of lizard') vs. standard apo.
2) The result of Iberian *t- in loanwords. We've already seen that in a previous post.
3) The assibilation of an initial stop, either velar (most frequent) or labial (very rare), which often undergone expressive palatalization1 into [ʃ] <x> or [tʃ] <tx>. For example, non-standard kakur 'dog' has given the assibilated forms zakur, txakur, xakur, and Romance *capel 'hat' has given txapel, xapel, zapel.
An example of assibilation of a labial stop is zegi 'milky cow' vs. behi 'cow' < EPBsq. *pek:i.
The coalescence of assibilation and expressive palatization in the same word has made Vascologists2 incapable of identifying the former. In Basque only coronal consonants [s, ś, ts, tś, d, t, n, l] (and in some dialects also [r, ŕ]) can undergone palatalization, so in order for a velar to be palatalized, it must be first converted to a sibilant.
The chronology of assibilation is ancient, as it's already found in Iberian. For example, zaldi 'horse' (Iberian saldu) is related to Germanic *kulta- 'colt'3, and zamar 'sheepskin jacket'4 is related to Germanic *xamísa- 'clothes, skirt'5 (PNC *χʕa:mV ‘skin, cloth’).
____________1) The retention of an etymological sibilant in non-standard varieties vs. its loss in standard Basque, as in zapo 'toad' (a loanword from Semitic *ɬ’abb- 'a kind of lizard') vs. standard apo.
2) The result of Iberian *t- in loanwords. We've already seen that in a previous post.
3) The assibilation of an initial stop, either velar (most frequent) or labial (very rare), which often undergone expressive palatalization1 into [ʃ] <x> or [tʃ] <tx>. For example, non-standard kakur 'dog' has given the assibilated forms zakur, txakur, xakur, and Romance *capel 'hat' has given txapel, xapel, zapel.
An example of assibilation of a labial stop is zegi 'milky cow' vs. behi 'cow' < EPBsq. *pek:i.
The coalescence of assibilation and expressive palatization in the same word has made Vascologists2 incapable of identifying the former. In Basque only coronal consonants [s, ś, ts, tś, d, t, n, l] (and in some dialects also [r, ŕ]) can undergone palatalization, so in order for a velar to be palatalized, it must be first converted to a sibilant.
The chronology of assibilation is ancient, as it's already found in Iberian. For example, zaldi 'horse' (Iberian saldu) is related to Germanic *kulta- 'colt'3, and zamar 'sheepskin jacket'4 is related to Germanic *xamísa- 'clothes, skirt'5 (PNC *χʕa:mV ‘skin, cloth’).
1 A common linguistic device in Basque used to denote diminutive or affective meanings.
2 Bengtson among them.
3 Nikolayev reconstructs IE *g(w)Ald- 'foal, young of an ass', related to NEC *gwalV 'horse'.
4 A non-standard word borrowed into Romance (Spanish zamarra, Catalan samarra).
5 Hence Spanish camisa 'shirt'.
