Re: [tied] West bird

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:

>
> On 2006-01-25 11:38, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> > And BTW how come the very early PIE compounds *ni-zd- "nest", *o-

zd-

> > "branch" both have to do with birds, not just "sit"?
>
> The analysis of *h(2/3)osd- as *ho-sd- is a little suspect: it
> presupposes the existence of a hypothetical PIE preposition with

an

> uncertain meaning, reflected as *ho- in this word and not doing

much

> other useful work elsewhere.

Greek o-kello "rush ashore", I believe. Why the laryngeal?

>There's no necessary connection with birds
> in this case, anyway, even if the analysis is correct. A branch

may be

> viewed as "sitting" on a tree trunk or a larger bough itself, as

well as

> being perched upon.

And then, it may not. The idea of a branch as an 'on-sit' doesn't
sound right. If that kind of construction was used on something as
everyday as a tree, how come there aren't any other preverb-verb
compounds for other everyday things? The chicken farmer worrying
about providing on-sits (on-perchs) and down-sits (down-roosts) for
his fowl is wrapped more nicely into a package. Fancy new technology
expressions ending up as general terms is a commonplace phenomenon.


Torsten