----- Original Message -----
From: "H.M. Hubey" <hubeyh@...>
To: <Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 01, 2003 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Cardinal and Ordinal Integers


> I see kir, kur, kri and it seems like kur has to be explained as kw-, and it is pretty easy to see the connection between *kir and *kil, etc. all meaning "round". The root of all these has to be *kVL where L=liquid. and V=vowel.

It so happens that *kWir- cannot give <cur-> or <cir-> in Latin. Similarity does not mean a historical connection. There are many reasons why two roots may be similar -- including coincidence, of course. You greatly increase the likelihood of accidental similarity by using wildcard symbols for "any vowel" and "any liquid". Now if any language has a word like "kil", "kel", "kal", "kol", "kul", "kir", "ker", "kar", "kor" or "kur" meaning 'round', 'wheel', 'circle', 'crooked', etc., you will "see a connection" (you can see even more connections if you use "any velar" instead of *k). By contrast, orthodox linguists will ask you to explain the details of the relation to rule out chance agreement (which you obviously can't do).