On 04-11-08 11:37, alexandru_mg3 wrote:
> Could Albanian "lajthi" ('hazel nut') to belong to the same root as
> a compound word PIE *e:l + *V + *knei-k^-io: with the meaning 'kind
> of brown nut' ?
>
> Where e:l is a long form of Pokorny "el-1" 'red brown in the name
> of tree or animals'
Pokorny's root is definitely too inclusive, in stark contrast to the
shaky reconstructibility of the underlying adjective *h1el-u-. I'm not
even sure if *h1élh1on- 'red deer' is derived from a PIE colour term
(though the EIEC essentially agrees with Pokorny, despite certain
reservations): as far as I'm concerned, it looks like an old active
participle derived from a stative verb -- *h1él-h1-on(t) (a Narten
root?), although I can't identify the verb itself (well, perhaps it _is_
*h1eleh1- 'be reddish-brown' after all, but I'd like to see its direct
attestation).
>
> The Proto-Albanian form would be in this case : *al+wa+kneitsia >
> *allaknitsa ?
I still don't see how you could get <lajthi> out of it. It seems more
profitable to compare it with Slavic *le^ska '(hazel) stick, hazel' (Cz.
líska, Blg. leska, Pol. laska, leszczyna) as a cognate. It's a difficult
etymon, especially if Baltic *lazda: is to be integrated with the rest
of the data. Pokorny's suggestion, *le:g^(H)- is hardly satisfactory.
Any thoughts, anybody?
Pioitr