Re: [MTLR] RE: The Vocalic Theory (PIE *al-)

At 3:03:19 PM on Sunday, May 25, 2008, tgpedersen wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:

>> At 2:27:57 PM on Wednesday, May 21, 2008, tgpedersen
>> wrote:

>> [...]

>>> It's not just a denominal adj., like 'rotten' (DEO calls
>>> 'rådden' a ppp. too, of a root PGmc *reut- "tear up, dig
>>> up", but does the semantics fit?)?

>> English <rotten> isn't denominal: it's a borrowing of ON
>> <rotinn>, which certainly appears to be a past part. of a
>> lost *rjóta.

> ON <rotinn> certainly does, and I would like to see a
> context for its occurrence.

'[V]ar þá líkaminn rotinn ok illa þefjaðr': 'The body was
then rotten and ill-smelling' (Flateyjarbók). The phrase
<rotið vín> 'rotten wine' is found in Stjórn (a Biblical
paraphrase). There's also <rotið skinn> 'a hide tanned so
that the hair has fallen off'.

> In the meantime, how would you explain the geminate in
> Eng. rotten, Da. rådden, Sw. rutten?

According to SAOB, OSw. had <rutin>, and Björkmann gives the
ODa. as <ruten>. ME spellings are almost always with single
<t>. In English my best guess is that it was borrowed with
ME /O/, which then developed normally to RP /A./; this being
a short vowel, the <tt> spelling is expected from the point
at which spelling became more or less standardized, and
that's about when it seems to become the norm. I don't know
enough about the Early Modern developments in Swedish and
Danish to comment on the introduction of <tt> spellings
there.

Brian