--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> Rob wrote:
>
> >>Strangely enough, Lubotsky doesn't even mention some of the most
> >>commonly quoted roots and words with *a, such as *kap- and *kan-.
> >
> >
> > Those could very well be loanwords, IMO.
>
> _Anything_ could be a loanword, but if you claim that PIE had no
*a and
> then dismiss any piece of counterevidence as a loanword just
because it
> shows an *a, that's circular.
Note Dutch (<- NWBlock, root structure otherwise non-permitted in
PIE) 'kappen' "cut", in Danish (and German?) used only in maritime
affairs, as in 'kappe et reb' "cut off a rope", 'kappe
masterne' "cut down the masts" (in a storm). Hans Kuhn has a longish
discussion of kap-/kup- roots of names of hills and generally
meaning "top" (of things). I think the "top, head", "grab" and "cut"
senses belong together, making this a single borrowed root, having
to do with harvesting with a sickle. Note the posture of the
victorious ruler towards POWs on numerous portrayals: grabbing them
with one hand, he hits/harvests them with the other.
Torsten