Actually, "sheep" is reconstructed with
*h2- even in the Encyclopedia of IE Culture and by many linguists who don't
question the reality of *h3 but insist that it should have a zero reflex in
Anatolian. As a result, any Greek or Latin *o- is reconstructed as *h2o- if it
corresponds to ha- in Hittite or Luwian, but it's *h3o- if no Anatolian
cognate is known.
A bold speculator who wants to prove that
sheep are really birds in sheep's clothing will have an easy job:
"wool" is *h2w-l-H-no-
"wind" is *h2w-h1-ont-
"sheep" is *h2ow-i-
"bird" is *h2aw-i-
... so all one needs is *h2ew-/*h2aw-/*h2u-
'fluff, something volatile', plus all sorts of root determinants and
suffixes.
Needless to say, I'm not being even
half-serious.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Harold, the flying sheep
(*bHeh1-bHeh1)
No, I just meant that (near) homonymy cannot be excluded, so
I couldn't present it as definite proof for *h3. I *could* introduce it as
a joke, however...