SV: Narten Presents

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

 

What is confusing about Hittite is that it also has "strong" e corresponding to "weak" a! This is because originally unstressed PIE *e could be reduced to a schwa-like vowel (*@) which became Hittite a.

 

ed-mi    ad-antsi    'eat' (1sg/3pl/part.)

es-mi    as-antsi    'be'

ses-mi   sas-antsi   'sleep'

ep-mi    app-antsi   'seize'

eku-mi   akuw-antsi  'drink'

I don't follow. What kind of an *e do you have in mind? A Pre(-Greco-Aryan)-PIE/Indo-Hittite unstressed *e, or an analogical *e (*h1s-énti --> *(h1)es-énti > asanzi), or something else?

By the way, are there any convincing examples against the assumption *h1 > a /_[+dental] in Anatolian (or Hittite only)? This would take care of adanzi and asanzi, and the rest would be analogical.

 

Urban