Navarro y riojano yasa, vasco jasa: ¿paleoeuropeo *isa / *aisa?

Abstract

This paper reviews the spreading of the word yasa ‘gully’, ‘swell’, both in the medieval and modern toponymy, and in the contemporary language; the area of spreading of this word only includes eastern Rioja and southern Navarra. It is related to the Basque jasa ‘heavy rain’, as well as to the place name from high Aragon Chasa. The hypothesis proposed is that all these variants derive from the Paleoeuropean rivernames root *isa / *aisa, perhaps through the variant *iasa