AfroAsiatic "four"

Miguel:

>A sorted list of the Chadic words for "4" (taken off Mark
>Rosenfelder's site) is:
>
>with f-:
>[...]
>with h-:
>[...]
>with p-, b`-:
>[...]
>with w-, v-, u-, etc:
>[...]
>others:
>ga:de, waga:de, ga:de, ka:di, tws�t

How do you explain the "others"? I personally have trouble getting a /g/ out
of *p.W- but I can credibly get one out of *h(W)- while still accounting for
the other forms, including Egyptian.

>For Chadic, a reconstruction like *<p.wat.> (or *<fwad.>) seems to be
>in the right ballpark.

How about Chadic *hwat.- instead?

>In Egyptian, /f/ usually comes from PAA */p./ (ejective labial).
>E.g.: <`ff> "fly" :: Sem. *<d_bb> "fly"; <sfxw> "7" :: Sem. <sb3=t>
>"7". Occasionally, <f> can reflect (labialized) */h/ or */s^/.

So we CAN get an Egyptian /f/ from *h... So you're saying that the word for
seven in AA was with a */p./... like *sap.x-?!

- gLeN

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