Re: apple

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Tavi" <oalexandre@...> wrote:

>
> IMHO Hittite s^- in s^am(a)lu- 'apple' would be a consequence of
> Fournet's Law.
>
> The Hittite word should be analyzed as a prefix *?\a- plus a root
> *mh\alV corresponding to NEC *mh\alV- ~ *mh\anV- 'warm'. This laryngeal
> fricative would cause the preceding *m to be denasalized in
> *?\a-mh\alV *abol- 'apple'. And the variant *?\a-mh\anV would be reflected in
> Uralic *omena 'apple'.
>

The semantic motivation would be of course 'warm season' > 'fruit'.

I'm not sure if IE *meh2l-o- 'apple' is actually related to this (presumably by way of metathesis) as there's another (although anthropomorphic) suggestive possibility: Avaro-Andian *maq'a:la (~ -o) 'throat, larynx', Svan m@-q'l-a, m@-q'l-i 'neck, throat' (< Kartvelian *q'el- 'neck'). Here we'd have 'throat' > 'Adam's apple'.