Re: Scantily Attested PIE Roots in Wiktionary

From: Richard Wordingham
Message: 66939
Date: 2010-12-06

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:
> At 12:47:31 PM on Sunday, December 5, 2010, Richard
> Wordingham wrote:

> > *gHreh1 Eng green, grow, grass

> It's in Pokorny: (gHre:-), gHro:-, gHr@ 'wachsen, grünen'
> (p. 454). It's also in Watkins.

I've now found the entry in Pokorny. He gives some uncertain Slavonic cognates, but he also suggests that it is probably the same as the homonymous root *gHerh1 'to stand out', used of projections from plant stems and of bristles. (For the sense, recall that New Guinea Pidgin English for 'beard' is literally 'face grass'.) For *gHerh1 we have, amongst other words, Russian _gran^_ 'facet; border' and Bulgarian(?) grána 'branch' and Middle Irish _grenn_ 'beard'.

Richard.