Re: [tied] Re: lat. nux, -cis - PIE?

On 04-11-08 14:41, Abdullah Konushevci wrote:

> I have treated this word in two messages of Balkanika,
> Message 886:
> Pokorny support Meyer's etymology that Alb. <lajthi/lejthi> is
> derived from noun root *leg'(h)- or *lHg'h- `branch', related to
> Lit. <lazda> `id.' And Sl. <leska> `id.', loza `wine, wood, bush'.
> This etymology is also supported by N. Jokl, who reconstruct an
> early form *ladh with an epenthetic –j-. Camaj reconstruct *l-al-thi
> to explain exactly this epenthetic –j-.

Yes. This "epenthetic -j-" is the biggest problem in the derivation.

> As Çabej as well as Demiraj treat the word <lajthi> as derivative of
> Alb. <lak> `noose, slip' (Demiraj, 231).
> There is an attested form <lakthi> in Borgo Erizzo (Tagliavini,
> Dalmazia, 166-167). If we agree that /kt/ yields /jt/, I think that
> also /kth/ should yields too /jth/ and the problematic /j/ is easy
> explainable.

I agree, but only if the cluster is of recent origin (a loan, a late
formation or the result of a recent phonetic process). In an inherited
word, -kC- would have been simplified, cf. natë < *nokWt- and te(të) <
*ok^to:- vs. drejt- < Lat. d(i)rectu-. If <lakthi> is an authentic form,
then you seem to be right about the origin of the <-j->, but we should
start with something like *lakVc- or *lagVc- in Proto-Albanian. Note
djathtë < *dek^si-t-, also with a cluster resulting from syncope. I
still can't see how to reconcile such forms with the Slavic word, though
my gut feeling (not only mine, it seems) is that they are ultimately
related. Also, OPr. laxde and Latv. lagzda immediately spring to mind.

> Geg form <lejthi> is due to i-Umlaut. –i is a reflex
> of –iH1 plural suffix.

There is no such plural suffix anywhere. *-ih1 is found in neuter duals,
but why should a word for 'hazel(nut)' be a dual? I think it's really a
collective in *-ijo-. Albanian has plenty of them.

> If we take into account that PIE root *lenk- `to bend' yilds in OCS
> <le,šti> `to bend' and lešnjak `hazelnut', I believe that zero-grade
> form *ln.k- suffixed in –st-iH1 yields in Albanian <lajthi> through
> la(n)k-st-i > lakthi > lajthi.

Since when is <les^njak> OCS?? The word has nothing to do with the
'bend' root anyway. The base of the Slavic word-family in question is
*le^ska '(hazel) stick, hazel-bush'. Note the *e^, which must come from
pre-Slavic *e:, *ai or *oi (or perhaps from *e lengthened before a
voiced stop [Winter's Law], if there ever was one in this word);
<les^njak> is derived from the adj. *le^s^c^-In-U (cf. such Polish
placenames as Leszno < Leszczno 'hazel grove'; the associated adjective
is still <leszczyn'ski>).

Piotr

>
> Best of the best
> Konushevci