--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@> wrote:
> >
> > On 2006-08-17 13:14, alexandru_mg3 wrote:
> >
> > > Please tell me also if Latin api:scor could reflect an initial
*h1e-
> > > or not ?
> >
> > Not *h1e-; that's for sure. One could ask whether Lat. ap-
> > can reflect PIE *h1p-. Laryngeals seem to have been
> > lost before obstruents in Latin, though the best examples
> > I can think of involve laryngeals before *s, as in 3pl.
> > <sunt> (*h1sénti) and <stella> (*h2ster-). Nevertheless,
> > Latin often shows /a/ as a zero-grade substitute or
> > "shwa secundum", an anaptyctic vowel filling a morphological
> > vowel slot to break up a hard-to-syllabify consonant cluster,
> > so at least in theory the development *h1p- --> *h1&p- >
> > ap- is thinkable, especially in the verbal adjective
> > <aptus> if from *h1p-tó-; this form may have influenced
> > the rest of the paradigm.
> >
>
> Somehow <ptus> doesn't sound Latin.
>
> Hermann Möller connected *ap- to Semitic. If true (loan?)
> it's a whole different kettle of fish
> http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/HbHpHg.html
>
from
Pulleyblank: Historical and Prehistorical Relationships of Chinese
in
Wang: The Ancestry of the Chinese Language
EMC Early Middle Chinese
OC Old Chinese
/â/ a consonantal glide corresponding to the vowel /a/
as /y/, /w/ correspond to the vowels /i/, /u/
"
3. JOIN, FIT; CLOSE; COVER; SEIZE, HOLD, HAVE
A large word family in Chinese is based on a root *kW-p
of which the simplest form is
hé .. EMC G&p < [OC] *â-kW&´p.
The definitions in a modern dictionary include
"close, shut; join, combine; whole; suit, agree".
The character also has the reading
ke_ .. EMC k&p < [OC] *kW&´p,
which now only survives in the sense of a measure of capacity
but which is given the transitive meaning "bring together, join"
in the Qièyùn. The transitive/intransitive contrast
between *kW- and *âkW- corresponds to the common pattern
for pairs of verbs that contrast voiceless and voiced
initials which I attribute to the prefix *â- Another
closely related pair of words is
huì .. EMC GwajH < [OC] *â-kW&´ps^ "assemble, meet; meeting; etc.",
also read
kuài EMC kwajH < kW&´ps^ "keep (the hair) together; calculation, account".
(The lowering of OC *& to *a is a regular pattern in some
circumstances, though the exact conditions are not yet clear ...)
Other derivatives include
hé .. EMC G&p < [OC] *â-kW&´p "box",
hé .. EMC Gap < [OC] *â-kWa´p "shut, close; leaf of a door; whole",
gài .. EMC kajH < [OC] *kWaps^"cover(n.)",
etc. For evidence of the initial labiovelar note also
hé .. EMC Gap "why not"
which shows that this root should have the same initial as the
interrogative pronouns discussed under No. 2 above
[where, interestingly, Pulleyblank reconstructs a large number
of OC interrogative pronouns with initial *kW]
...
The root CLOSE, JOIN is found in Tibeto-Burman ... . In Tibetan,
there is the verb
hgeps-pa, Pf. bkab, Fut. dgab, Imve. khob "to cover"
Compare also
gab-pa "to hide"
I think this must be the same root that is found in the pair
capio: "seize", habeo: "hold, have" in Latin, from
IE *kap- and *ghabh-
respectively. On the function of the prefix *a- in IE as the
source for the voiced aspirates see Pulleyblank 1993b
[The typology of Indo-European,
Journal of Indo-European Studies 21: 63-118]
I assume that *kW lost its rounding in IE for the same reason
that initial labialization is not found in the Chinese readings
with final -p, namely the dissimilatory effect of the final labial.
Roots with labiovelar initials and final stops seem to be lacking
in IE.
The close relation of the two IE roots as they appear in Latin
has been widely recognized. Walde (1965) calls habeo: the
resultative of capio:. Elsewhere this semantic distinction is lost.
In Germanic the verb "to have" is formally derived from *kap-,
though *ghabh- is represented by Gothic gabei "riches". On the
other hand *ghabh- furnishes gaibim "take, seize, hold" in Irish.
Greek has kápto: "gulp down". Walde suggests tha the root *kap-
was originally a sound gesture imitative of seizing (presumably
with tyhe mouth). This would provide a good connection to what
may be the original meaning of the root in Chinese, "to shut
(the mouth)", suggested by the presence of the "mouth" element
in the graph. Even if some kind of sound symbolism is involved
in the ultimate origin of the root or roots, it does not alter
the fact that they have been fully lexicalized within Indo-European
as well as Sino-Tibetan.
"
It is tempting to throw in
IE *xap- "bind",
although I have no idea what Chinese prefix would account for
this third initial.
Note, however, that both IE *kap- and *xap- seem to have
a/e: ablaut, which matches the pattern of Germanic class VI
verbs. Perhaps we should look in another direction for the
origin of these verbs?
Torsten