[tied] Re: IE right & 10

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <magwich78@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, enlil@... wrote:
> >
> > Richard:
> > > Should I take it from this you're confident that the

superlative

> > > suffix (PIE *mo) always had the precursor of the thematic

vowel in

> > > pre-PIE?
> >
> > I lost you. What does the superlative have to do with *dekm

again?

> > Are you talking about "tenth", a combination of *dekm +

genitive

> > *-os which later is analysed mistakingly as *dekm-mos with the

help

> > of its rhyming twin *septm-mos (a Semitic numeral)? There

certainly

> > is no **dek- meaning "ten" so it's very tentative to relate the

two

> > together based only on similar sounds.

Counting on the left hand and then the right hand, the tenth finger
(of ten) is the _rightmost_. (When I count on my fingers, the
finger for five, my left thumb, is the leftmost when I reach it!)

> Also, the reconstructed IE word for "right" is *deksteros, correct?

I'm not sure we can go beyond *dek^s-. *deksteros is at best
Italic. Greek has a basic term _deksiós_, with a comparative
formation _deksiterós_. Balto-Slavonic and Indo-Iranian argue for
*dek^sino-. Celtic and Germanic show *dek^s(o)wo-.

It wouldn't surprise me if *dek^s derived from *dek^ plus the pre-
ablaut forerunner of the comparative suffix *yos, rather like the
place name 'Pendle Hill' - _Pen_ = Welsh 'head, hill' and _-le_ is a
reduced form of _hill_.

Richard.