[tied] Glue, resin [was: Ducks and Souls]

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 25967
Date: 2003-09-23

23-09-03 01:39, Abdullah Konushevci wrote:

> Prefixed and extended in verbal suffix -yo *n-gWet-yo this root
> derives in Albanian verb <ngjes> 'to glue, to affix', noun
> <ngjitës> 'glue, resin', probably through diphthongation of /e/ and
> treating this labiovelar as pure velar. Taking into account also verb
> <ngjesh> 'to press, to compress', derived from *n-g^hes-yo, I think
> that we may found the rule that palatals and labiovelars, preceding
> by nasals, are treated in Albanian as pure velars.

*n-gWet- etc. are incorrect reconstructions, since the preverb is
Albanian, not PIE. I see no etymological support for your proposed
post-nasal dorsal merger in medial environments; word-initially it
simply fails to make any sense, since the Albanian prefix-root sandhi is
younger than the peculiar developments of the different dorsal series in
pre-Albanian. As for combinations with the prefix <n->, *g^(H)- actually
ends up as <nd-> and *gW(H)- palatalised before a front vowel gives
<nx->, as far as I can see. I don't know the origin of the <ngjit->
family of vords, but your suggestion is unlikely: <-gjit-> could derive
from a variety of hypothetical sequences, e.g. from something like
*-sit- (any ideas, anybody?), but certainly not from *-gWet-.

Piotr