RE: [lojban] gismu etemology

["Craig" <ragnarok@pobox.com>]

>> >> Is there data for this stuff somewhere?
>> >
>> >The nitty-gritty details are at
>>
>> http://www.lojban.org/files/etymology/finprims
>>
>> This puzzles me. The Spanish glosses are sometimes really weird. eg,
>> pont - puente
>> kord - cuerda
>> port - puerta
>>
>> This 'ue' does represent an original /O/, but it contrasts with /o/. It
is
>> also not pronounced o anywhere, except maybe portugal - and that is
>> generally not thought of as the same language. What happened?

>Some words have a regular alternation between "ue" and "o" depending on
>stress: oler:huele; contar:cuente. Perhaps the "o"-form is the stem of a
>longer derived word.

Pre-Spanish had a seven vowel system: a, e, E, i, o, O, u. Stressed E and O
became ie and ue, while unstressed E and O became e and o.