Re: [tied] About the etymology of *nepo:t- "nephew/grandson"

How do you explain the unreduced *ne- here? The normal composition form (unless *ne- is secondarily restored, as in Slavic) is just syllabic *n-, as reflected by Latin impotens < *n-pot- + the pres.part. of esse). My second objection is that Latin pot(-s)- represents truncated *pot-i-s rather than consonantal *pot-. In fact, *poti- is what we find nearly everywhere, while nepot- is clearly a consonantal stem. To sum up, the expected form of "unable" should be *n-poti- rather than this aberrant *ne-pot-.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----

From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 8:17 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] About the etymology of *nepo:t- "nephew/grandson"

"un-able", rather. Just like Latin <in-fans> from "unable to speak", Greek <ne:-pios> from "un-wise", OIr. <nóidiu> [< *no-widio:n-] from "un-knowing", Slavic <ot-rokU> from "unable to speak", all meaning "infant, child".