Re: Order of Some Indo-Iranian Sound Changes

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "G&P" <G.and.P@...> wrote:

>
> >As for -tt- > -ss- (typically ppp's):
>
> In Greek the change /-tt-/ > /-ss-/ is dialectal, and affects all

words, not

> just ppp's. E.g. tettar- / tessar-/ pittar- = 4; thalatta /

thalassa =

> sea; and so on. Since the last word is probably non-IE, it shows

that the

> change is an active phonological change within Greek, independent

of what

> has happened in other IE language groups, and not due to something
> inherited.

Attic and Boeotian have /-tt-/ in most words where other dialects
have /-ss-/. It is not a matter of /-tt-/ > /-ss-/ nor, strictly
speaking, of /-ss-/ > /-tt-/. The clusters *k(h)y, *t(h)y, and *t(h)
w came out a little stronger in Attic-Boeotian. It is noteworthy
that Xenophon has <thalatta> ktl. but also <Kilissa> and <Phoenissa>;
these feminine ethnonyms reflect *ky but must have entered X.'s Attic
from another dialect.

DGK