Pavel A. da Mek wrote:
> The grade "k^red-" of compound k^red-dhH1-
> (from k^erd (http://bartleby.com/61/roots/IE225.html)
> and dheH1 (http://bartleby.com/61/roots/IE92.html))
> seems to me weird, it is not full grade "k^red" nor zero grade "k^r.d".
An old thought of mine, not yet metioned here, I think. The usual
interpretation of *k^red-dHeh1- is 'to put/place one's heart/pledge...'
etc., but the funny schwebeablaut variant of *k^erd- (_if_ it is the
same root) is left unexplained. I'd like to propose an alternative
possibility: *k^red- may be the archaic endingless _locative_ of *k^erd-
(perhaps a morphologically complex word once upon a time, i.e.
*k^er-d-). The locative often shows the full e-vocalism in the last
vowel-slot of the stem, e.g. *wódr./*udén-. The compound verb would them
have meant 'to place [sth.] in/upon one's heart'.
Piotr