From: Miguel Carrasquer
Message: 30907
Date: 2004-02-09
>On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, tgpedersen wrote:If the length in Grk. o:kus can be explained by the same procedure (*h2ak^-
>>
>> Might the *o- once have been an article?
>
>I really think it might. I have guessed at a linking particle like the
>Albanian Gelenkartikel or the Persian izafet. The words containing the
>funny o-element appear to be originally adjectives (a magnificent example
>being Gk. ou^los 'woolly' from IE *wo'l-no-s, not showing any of the
>laryngeals of the presumed *H2wl'H1-na-H2 'wool' from which it derives an
>adjective). The same function can apparently be expressed without the
>o-element (even with root structures that do not regularly eject it). And
>its original position is certainly that of an element preceding the word
>to which it has later been drawn. The old adjectival function would also
>explain why all forms made with this /o/ are thematic.