From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
Message: 55504
Date: 2008-03-18
>Actually, "laryngeal hardening" is quite a wide-spread=======================
>phenomenon in Indo-European, although still not entirely
>understood.
>
>What seems clear is that the combination of laryngeal +
>nominative *-s (< *-z?) led to hardening to /k/ or /g/ of
>the laryngeal (whether *h1, *h2 or *h3). Quite possibly the
>accent also had to fall on the preceding vowel. From the
>nominative, the -k- or -g- spread to the other cases in a
>number of words and suffixes. The vowel before the
>"hardened" laryngeal is sometimes lengthened, sometimes not.
>
>Clear examples are the suffixes:
>
>Latin -ex (*-ak-), -ax (*-a:k-) and -tri:x.
>Greek -ax and -a:x (*-a(:)k- and also *-a(:)g-)
>Sanskrit -aj (*-ag-), -ij (*-ig-)
>Armenian -ac (*-ag-), -ak` (*-ak-)
>Slavic -akU (*-a:k), -ica (*-i:k-)
>
>All of these can be derived from *-ah2-s and *-(tr-)ih2-s
>with "laryngeal hardening". Note the parallel between Latin
>senex "old man" (cf. sena:tus) and Sanskrit sanaj- "old man"
>(sana: "old (f. adj.)")
>
>Individual words:
>
>Slavic [*Hs > *ks]: bic^I "whip" < *beih1s, bric^I "razor" <
>*breih1s , kljuc^I "key" < *kleuh2s, jazykU "tongue" < *(d)n.g^huh2s(?)
>
>Armenian [*Hs > *gs > -k-]: mukn "mouse" < *muHs, jukn
>"fish" < *ghdhuh2s [cf. also Old Prussian suckis "fish"]
>
>A possibly related phenomenon is seen in Germanic:
>[*Hw > gw > k(w)]: *kwikwaz "alive, quick" < *gWih3wos,
>*taikur- "brother-in-law" < *daih2wer-, *unk- "us two" < *unh3we-, etc.
>
>See Martinet, Olsen and Rasmussen in various publications.