Come to think of it, even if the PERSONA < PERSONARE etymology is
"dubious," surely this folk etymology would have some influence on
how the Romans thought about PERSONA. Folk etymology was largely
responsible for the change from Old Latin DINGUA > Classical Latin
LINGUA on its similarity to LINGERE, whose English cognates are TONGUE
and LICK respectively.
Yes, Coptic is also on my "it would be nice if I learned it" list.
Unfortunately, I have about three or four languages I'd like to
learn before that, but almost no time to do that.
Stephen
-- Stephen C. Carlson : Poetry speaks of aspirations, scarlson@mindspring.com : and songs chant the words. http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/ : -- Shujing 2.35