From: alex_lycos
Message: 20964
Date: 2003-04-12
----- Original Message -----
From: "Piotr Gasiorowski" <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
The stem of the numeral 'four' had two main variants in PIE:
(a) *kWetwor- (the corresponding weak form was usually *kWetwr.-,
*kWetur- or metathesised *kWetru-)
(b) *kWt[u]wor- (weak forms *kWtwr.-, *kWtur-, *kWtru-)
Both sets of forms were prone to various modifications and analogical
restructuring. The initial cluster *kWt- in (b), if not preserved, could
lose its initial element (*kWt- > *t-, as in Skt. turi:ya- 'fourth'),
receive an epenthetic weak vowel (*kWt- > *kW&t- as in Lat. quattuor or
Hom.Gk. pisures) or be remodelled on the analogy of (a). All Albanian
forms derive from the *kW&t- variant, which became Proto-Albanian *kat-.
The further development was completely regular:
The cardinal:
*kW&twores > *katwar- > katër
The ordinal:
*kW&twr.-to-/*kW&tru-to- > *katurt-/*katrut- > ka(:)tërt-/katrët-
Piotr
Hmmm, this seems to be the form requested by Rom. "patru"
*kW&tru- > patru