--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski
<piotr.gasiorowski@...> wrote:
>> I agree native origin is more likely. The connecting vowel before
*-k- is *I or *U (< *i, *u) in Slavic, as opposed to *a, which
predominates in Iranian (*-aka-), the Baltic connection supports the
Balto-Slavic status of the suffix (which is widespread in IE anyway),
and I know of no facts that are better explained by assuming its
foreign origin.
On the other hand, a devil's advocate would argue that (a Northeast
Iranian reflex of) Iranian *-aká- could well be acoustically
perceived as *-Uka- or even *-Ika- by the Proto-Slavs. The oldest
examples of *-uk- and *-(e:)i(:)k- in Balto-Slavic point to *u- and
*i-stems extended with the *-k(o)-, the development of the
independent suffixes *-uk- and *-ik- being a later innovation,
probably spread from Periferal (Pre-Slavic) Baltic into Central (pre-
East Baltic) Baltic and probably triggered by some external --
Iranian -- influence, an unstressed Iranian *-a- being associated
with Periferal Baltic *u and *i (*i seemes to function as a schwa in
Baltic at least in some cases). Iranian influence would also explain
why it's the null-grade variant (*-ik-, and not, say, *-eik-) that
has become so productive in Balto-Slavic.
;)
Sergei