On Sun, 12 Nov 2000 03:52:11 GMT, "Glen Gordon"
<
glengordon01@...> wrote:
>Miguel:
>>Which numerals are you referring to? The Kartvelian numerals are:
>>
>>1. *s'xwa- (Svan es^xu) / *ert- (Geo. er(t)-)
>>2. *jo(:)r- (Svan jo:ri, Geo. (v)or-)
>>3. *sam- (Svan semi, Geo. sam-)
>>4. *os'txwo- (Svan wos^txw, Geo. otx-)
>>5. *xwis't- (Svan woxwis^d, Geo. xut-)
>>6. *u(k)s'wa- (Svan usgwa, Geo. ekvs-)
>>7. *s^wid- (Svan is^gwid, Geo. s^vid-)
>>8. *arwa- (Svan ara, Geo. rua-)
>>9. *c'xra- (Svan c^xara, Geo. cxra-)
>>10. *as't- (Svan jes^d, Geo. at-)
>>20. *oc'- (Geo. (v)oc-, Megr. ec^-)
>>100. *as'ir- (Svan as^ir, Geo. as-)
>
>Oh, cool, I didn't know all the reconstructions for these numerals before.
>Thanx! I was refering to "six" which you have listed as *uks'wa-.
Actually, I wasn't quite sure which reconstruction to give, except
that Klimov's one (*eks'w-) doesn't seem quite right. The full
reflexes are:
Georgian ekvs-; Old Georgian ekus-
Megrelian ams^v-
Laz a(n)s^-
Svan usgwa, usk.wa
Klimov says: "Common Kartvelian numeral widely attested in Old
Georgian: <ekus c.el stese...> "for six years you are to sow..." Ex.
23.10. The Georgian form underwent a consonant metathesis. The
sequence <ks^> [PK *s' -> Geo /s/, Zan/Svan /s^/ -- mcv] of the
cluster <ks^v> regularly results in Zan in <rs^> (cf. *gus'-:gs'-).
Further substitution r > m (> n) yields the modern Zan forms. the
Svan word underwent also a series of transformations. See
Gamq.relidze (1959:29-30). The phonetic shape of the lexeme reflects
its non-Kartvelian origin. It undoubtedly derives from continuants of
PIE *weks- "six". However, an Armenian source is excluded for
chronological reasons [which remain unexplained -- mcv]. Cf. *otxo-
"four""
>The initial sibilant is gone.
And this is characteristic of the IE words for "six". It would be
highly unlikely that such a peculiar development would have occurred
both in IE and in Kartvelian independently. Therefore, PK borrowed it
from IE.
>Anyways, by my own glance, *s'xwa "1" and *sam "3" are NorthEast Caucasian
>while "5" to "10" plus "100" are Semitoid. Not sure whether "six" can
>actually be IE. We wouldn't expect Kartvelian *k out of IE *k^ based on the
>previous correspondance *ok^txW- > *os'txw- and yet Georgian and Svan seem
>to have the velar there.
Svan doesn't, not really. The development *s'w > sgw ~ sk.w is
regular, and the velar *g/*k. here developed out of *w (cf. Armenian
*w > g). Contrary to Klimov, I think Armenian is the most likely
source for the Kartvelian numeral, and Armenian has <vec`>, which must
come from *uCec` (a putative PIE *wek^s would have given Arm. *gec`),
with a consonant that disappears between two vowels, e.g. *s (or *sw).
A form *uswec` can be derived from *uswets or *uswek^s, which is
either an original ordinal *uswets < *uswetos < *sweswetos <
*swek^swetos, or metathesized from *swek^sw(e) > *sweswek^s >
*uswek^s, in either case ultimately traceable to Semitic *s^eds^etu-
(*s^es^s^etu-). A form *uswek^s seems like the one that best explains
the Kartvelian reflexes, although it's still hard to give a Common
Kartvelian prototype (maybe there wasn't one, and Svan and
Georgian-Zan borrowed the word from Pre-Armenian independently, which
would maybe also take care of Klimov's "chronological" problem).
> Kartv PreKartv
>5. *xwicte *xawi'cte <= Semitish *xabistu
Nothing "Semitish" here. Plain old Akkadian (Assyrian) xamis^t- >
xawis^t- -> PK *xwis't-/*xu(s')t-
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...