Re: [tied] Re: IE thematic presents and the origin of their themati

Rob wrote:

> Is there any verbal root which has both forms? (I ask because, so
> far, it seems that the answer is "no". For example, there is no word
> *bhe:r to contrast with *bho:r.)

Off the top of my head, I could quote Gk. sko:ps 'scops owl, _Otus
scops_' < *spo:k^-s vs. *spe:k^-s 'watcher, observer'. Animal names
meaning 'a critter that frequently ..." tend to have o-vocalism, cf. Gk.
pto:ks 'hare'.

> I would rather say that those two forms were coined at different
> stages in IE's development, *dxWté:r being older and *déxWto:r being
> younger.

Based on what? To my mind, the distinction is parallel to that found in
*p&2-té:r 'father' (< *'natural, constant protector') vs. *páh2s-to:r
'herdsman, shepherd' (< 'protecting now and then, when on duty'), with
durative *//peh2-// vs. punctual *//pe:h2-s-//.

Piotr