A good question. There quite a few "wet"
lexemes beginning with *w- and there have been attempts (started by van
Langehove 1939, I think) to combine them in a single word-family by
reconstructig the "underlying root" **h1ew- with various extensions and
suffixes, e.g. *h1w-ed- (better known as *wed-), *h1w-er-s-, *h1w-es-,
*h1w-eh1-r-, etc., despite the fact that the initial *h1- is nowhere to be seen
in most cases (only *h1wers- seems defensible). I personally dislike this
automatic habit of inserting a laryngeal wherever convenient for preconceived
reasons, even if there's no comparative justification for one. The Germanic long
vowel here (Modern English ooze is another example) is not explained by the
initial laryngeal. The root, to tell the truth, is rather shakily attested and
I'd brand it with a cautionary question mark.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 10:48 AM
Subject: [tied] *H1wes-
from EIEC
*H1wes- "moist, especially of the
ground or plants"
vestikatu "to offer
libation"
Umbrian
wo:s "juice,
broth"
Old English
waas
"layer of mist of fine
drops" New
Dutch
wasal "moist
ground"
Old High German
vasa
"forest with wet ground and blue clay" Latvian
ievasa "moisture, tree
sap"
Latvian
va:s "trouble,
difficulty"
(< "caused by bad
weather")
Old Norse
What is that laryngeal H1 doing there? And how do you account
for the
long vowels?
Torsten