Re: [tied] gwen etymology

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 4922
Date: 2000-12-03

Let me answer this one, as Polish is my native language.
 
The word is always <z.ona> (pron. "zhona"). Several centuries ago Polish /e/ underwent a change to /o/ between a "soft" (palatal or palatalised) consonant and a "hard" dental sound:
 
Slavic *z^ena > Polish z^ona (spelt <z.ona>).
 
The change did not apply if the following consonant was palatalised, so /e/ was preserved in the Dat.sg. or Loc.sg. z^en'e (' = palatality). Later all these forms were levelled out, so that in Modern Polish we have <z.ona, z.onie> for older <z.ona, z.enie>.
 
However, this old /e/ survives in derivatives, e.g. the adjective <z.en'ski> 'female' or the verb <z.enic' sie,> 'get married (= take a wife)'.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Eris
To: cybalist@egroups.com
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] gwen etymology


z.ona too as in it's z.ena as well, or just z.ona?  Also, is the z./z' supposed to be a "zh" sound?  If not, what is the marking for?