Re: 7-minute ITCH

On 2008-02-04 21:47, Patrick Ryan wrote:

> I ran across some interesting implications connected with 'itch'.
>
> AHD says it is unattested in PIE but presumably from a unattested Germanic
> *yuk-.

Why unattested? The Germanic cognates of OE giccan point to *juk-ja-, so
the verb stem IS attested.

> Do you think it might have a PIE antecedent in PIE *yeug^-, 'be stirred up'?

Why not? LIV has *jeug^(h)- 'unruhig werden' (the evidence for the final
laryngeal is restricted to what looks like the reflex of an infixed
*jug^-ne-h- in Tocharian). *jug^-je/o- is a perfectly possible
derivative, though LIV doesn't mention it (nor does Pokorny). Goth.
jiukan < *jeuk-a- < *jeug^-e/o- means 'fight', but there is no
unabridgeable semantic chasm between 'get restless' and 'itch'.

Piotr