Re: [tied] evolution

On Sun, 1 Dec 2002 23:57:24 +0100, alexmoeller@... wrote:

>Infinitive form for to be: ger="sein", rom="a fi" ( from a supposed
>auxiliar latin *fire)

There's nothing "supposed" about fieri.

>for english I am, you are, s/he is, we are,you are,they are we have:
>
>ger: bin, bist, ist, sind, seid,sind

Gothic im, is, ist, sijum, sijuth, sind

>rom: sânt,esti,este,sîntem,sînteti,sînt

Latin sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt

Both derive ultimately from PIE *h1es-mi, *h1es-(s)i, *h1es-ti;
*h1s-mé(s), *h1s-té(s), *h1s-énti (though not without irregularities
in both Germanic and Romance).

>For the verb " to say" the similarity is more interesting.

Actually, it's not interesting at all.

>Please keep in
>mind that the german "s" is pronounced like rom. "z" (as the english "s"
>in "case"

Nope. "case" has an /s/.

>infinitive form for " to say": ger=zagen, rom=zice ( from latin dicere,
>pronounced dikere)
>
>ger: sage,sagst,sagt,sagen,sagt,sagen
>rom: zic,zici,zice,zicem,ziceti,zic
>
>Of course, just for these similarities none will think that rom. lang
>and germ.lang are in a parental or familial relationship. They are in
>the same family of IE and that is all.
>The question here is : how does it happen in two languages, different as
>family, we find the same fonological stamps, specialy when one is a
>"romance" one and the another a germanic one ( with 2
>Lautverschiebungen).
>Please do not think just at a simple coincidence.

Why not if it is? Sagen (with s- > /z-/) and zice (with d- > z-) are
utterly unrelated. The Latin cognates of sagen are i:nseque
(*en-sekW-), inquam (*en-skW-a:-) [neither preserved in Romanian, I
think], perhaps sequor "follow", while the German cognates of zice
are zeigen, zeihen.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...