On 05-03-25 01:24, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:
> Sihler p. 156 says that *gW > k in Germanic "before rounded
> vowels". The example he gives is "cow".
I don't think the reflex of *gW was delabialised in this word already in
Proto-Germanic. The attested forms are easier to explain if we start
with something like PGmc. *kwo:- with further dialect-specific
developments. OE shows dual treatment of stressed *o: in monosyllabic
words, with <tu:> 'two (n.)' and <hu:> 'how' (from PGmc. *two:, *xwo:)
vs. <to:> 'to' (< PGmc. *to:). <cu:> 'cow' patterns with the first two,
so it seems that the presence of *w in the initial cluster is
responsible for the raising of the vowel, which means that the pre-OE
form was still *kwo: rather than *ko:.
Piotr