I think I have already answered the
second question: *sh2wel- is at the moment the best candidate for the ancestor
of <diell>, and any alternative solution would require a root with the
vowel *-e- rather than *-i:- < *-ih2-; initial *dj- would have given Albanian
z-, as far as I know. It also makes sense to derive the word for "sun" from a
protoword with the same meaning before we try more exotic
solutions.
I said <thell> derived from
*k^ouH-ilo-; Miguel's *k^ow-ilo- is practically the same thing (the "laryngeal"
consonant *H was lost very early), though there might be subtle differences in
the syllabification of the word. *k^ou- produced Proto-Albanian *tsau- >
*tsa- (for convenience, *ts stands for whatever affricate consonant resulted
from the modification of *k^; it is reflected as the dental fricative <th>
in Modern Albanian), and the *-a- was umlauted to -e- through the influence of
the *-i- in the next syllable. The unstressed syllables were eventually lost and
that's how we get the output <thell>. This is a rather mechanical
derivation, where regular changes as described by linguists account for each
step. We know, for example, that in stressed syllables PIE *ou > Albanian a,
and PIE *eu > Albanian e (e.g. in the "sea" word *dHeubeto- > *debët-
> *deët > de:t), and this regularity recurs in word after word.
<guvë> cannot derive from the same source or even from the reduced
("zero-grade") form of the root *k^euH- (i.e. *k^uH-), since there's no way to
get Albanian <g-> from *k^-.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 1:31 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Albanian
- Could also Albanian <guv-> have derived from
<*k^owilo- > from wich
"thell-" is said to have come ?
guvë = a cave
smaller and less deeper than "shpellë"
- If <dit-> 'day'
derives from *dih2-ti-s 'brilliance, shining' then could
even <diell->
'sun' derive from the same root or *dje instead of *sh2ul-) >
*swel-
?