Re: Mi- and hi-conjugation in Germanic

From: pielewe
Message: 36800
Date: 2005-03-17

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:



On Slavic *dUbrI vel sim. I'd asked:



> >By the way, how do you guys explain the coexistence of "I" (e.g.
> >R. "debr'" or for that matter the Albanian toponym "Dibar")
and "U"
> >(e.g. Czech debr^) in the first syllable?



Then Miguel wrote:



> That looks like yer-Umlaut.


But is it admissible to operate with yer-Umlaut outside OKS, e.g., to
account for the "e" in R. "debr'"? (I shouldn't have mentioned
Czech "debr^" here, which is neutral, cf. "den" 'day', and hence does
not attest in favour of "U").



As a matter of fact, judging both by the OCS evidence and by the
extra-OCS examples in Vasmer (not to speak of "Dibar") the evidence
appears to be pretty heavily weighted in favour of "I".


Willem