Re: [tied] Re: There was a crooked snake

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 7873
Date: 2001-07-14

I mentioned the *(h1?)neg^H- root in my posting. The Germanic "boat" word is now often regarded as a nasal-stem derivative of *nah2- "swim, float" with a "hardened" laryngeal (Pokorny, of course, had no laryngeals at all, let alone Verschärfung). Alternatively, and in my opinion more likely, it represents a nasal extension of *nah2-u- with "hardened" [-xw-]. I don't think the derivation from an otherwise unknown "tree" root makes sense. In Balto-Slavic, one would expect *-o- to lengthen before *-gW- (so-called Winter's Law) as in *nagU (Slavic *a < *o:) < *nogWos 'naked', which is why an _aspirated_ voiced stop should be reconstructed for the "knife" word (if it goes back to anything PIE). Other evidence points to *-g^H- in this root.
 
Piotr
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 11:28 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: There was a crooked snake

Well, this is from Pokorny:
  *nogwo- or *nagwo- "tree"?
  naga-                    "tree, mountain"   Sanskrit
  nokkui                   "boat"             Old Icelandic
  nahho                    "boat"             Old High German
  naco                     "boat"             Old Saxon
  naca                     "boat"             Old English
and this is EIEC:
  ?*H1negh-es-  appr. "spear"
  nozhi  (< *H1nogh-yo-)   "knife"            Old Church Slavonian
  engkos (?< *H1enghes-)   "spear"            Greek
  nes(s)                   "wound"            Old Irish
  from *H1negh- "stab"
cf.
  *derw-          "tree"                      Proto-IndoEuropean
  dervo-          "a tree"                    Gaulish
  dóru            "spear, tree"               Greek
  taru-           "tree, trees"               Hittite
  dáru            "tree"                      Sanskrit
  taru-           "spear"                     Thracian

Not that I'm particularly convinced by it myself. I'm convinced
however by the (in this context) off-topic Naga-trees, though. But I
am repeating myself.