> From: Glen Gordon <glengordon01@...>
>
> PS: The Narten present couldn't have existed in IE unless we're
> talking about laryngeals. I recall mention
> of /stau'ti/ supposedly coming from *ste:u-? Why? As far as T.
> Burrow in "The Sanskrit Language" conveys, the accentuation on
> -u was the norm for athematic strong forms of stems ending in
> -u before consonant initial suffixes like the 3rd person
> singular -ti. Don't we find this same accentuation in duals
> and in the word for "cow"? So... why isn't this just *steu-?
As usual I don't follow. I don't have Burrow's book available, so I can't check what he writes, and I don't understand in what way the accentuation is on the u.
However: *steu- > sto- before consonant, *steu- > stav- before vowel. There are "athematic strong forms of stems ending in -u before consonant initial suffixes" where we find the reflex -o-, such as reduplicating yuyoti and juhoti. If Burrow's rule only applies to root presents, it must be an Indo-Iranian rule, since we have sta:umi in Old Avestan (as opposed to Young Av. staomi).
Furthermore, since there are weak forms with full grade (stave, not *stuve), it's more natural to assign the verb to a known category than to assume a non-existent one (as far as I know), root presents with full grade in both strong and weak forms. For there are other Narten-presents, not only from roots ending in -u. Cf. sing. ta:s.t.i /Av. ta:šti (< *ta:ks.t.i) vs. pl. taks.ati 'fashion(s)' (compensatory lengthening is not an option here: cf. imperfect ata.s.ta).
I can find only three canditates for *-eu- > -au- before consonantal ending:
rauti 'cries', pl. ruvanti. Does not qualify, because it's a set.-root and in any case secondary (and late: bra:hman.as), since there's no trace of the final laryngeal (*h3reuH-; cf. Ved. aor. ara:vi:t, Greek o:ru:omai).
yauti 'unites'. From Atharvaveda on. In Rigveda we only find yuvati.
ks.naumi 'sharpens'. Rigvedic. The weak stem ks.nu- in Vedic could just as well be secondary; in Iranian we find full grade in weak stems: Old Persian 1 sg. a:-xšnauvaiy, Avestan 2 sg. opt. xšn@...:ša:.
Any others?
By the way:
> The Narten present couldn't have existed in IE unless we're talking about laryngeals.
Why not?
Urban