Re: Primary Stem Formants: -*H, -*i/y, -*u/w

On 2008-04-07 20:21, Patrick Ryan wrote:

> (6.) *werH1-, 'say ceremoniously, speak'
>
> It will be my contention that:
>
> a. *wer- is the root; and
>
> b. -*H(1) is a root extension.
>
> I have put the subscript in parentheses to indicate my unwillingness
> to accept a threefold classification of the 'laryngeal'.

And your contention is based on what?

> 1. My first argument is that there are only two root-forms in PIE:
> *CV- and *CVC(V)-.

Who says that? I have yet to see a PIE lexical root of the form *CV-

> 2. Pokorny recognizes a root *wer-; will you say he is in error?

Yes, he is. First, Pokorny uses a hopelessly outdated reconstruction
system without any lareyngeals, so what else did you expect? LIV has
three different roots reconstructed as *wer-, but none of them matches
*werh1- semantically. If *wer- appears anywhere, it's in forms like the
*-je/o- present *werje/o- (Gk. eíro:, Hitt. weriyezzi), but the loss of
syllable-initial laryngeals before *j is was regular already in PIE
(Pinault's Law).

> 3. Pokorny records a form *wre:-; do you dispute that it exists?

Of course I do. The primary source of Gk. (*w)re:- is *wr.h1-.

> 4. If you admit that it exists (as *wreH-, of course), how do you
> explain it from*werH-?

Like above. *wr.h1- > (*w)re:- is a well-known regular change in Greek.

Piotr