Re: [tied] *ekwos and friends

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

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 6:49 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] *ekwos and friends

There's no affinity, just superficial similarity -- let me explain why. In *ek^w-o-s, *-o- is a stem-forming element (called the "thematic vowel" in this case), and *-s is a mere inflectional ending, ignored by derivational processes. It is the *ek^w- part that would have served as the base for any derivatives (e.g. Latin equ-a 'mare', equ-et- [eques, equitis] 'rider', not *equos-a or the like).

 

If you want to compare *ek^w-o-s with anything, you have to compare like with like, beginning with the central morpheme. These Ukrainian words contain the root <kos'-> plus various word-forming suffixes. Since both <-o-> and <-s'> are clearly root elements, they can't legitimately match anything in *ek^w-o-s. Looking from the other side, neither *e- nor *-w- correspond to anything in <kos'->. The _only_ thing that could be matched (with additional assumptions concerning the unexpected "centum" reflex) is *-k^- vs. <k-> -- scarcely enough to support even a tentative etymology.

 

What is <kos'->, then? My _guess_ (I can check it tomorrow) is that it is a mutilated diminutive of <kon'-> -- a reduced form of something like Polish <konis'>. <kos'katy> seems to presuppose *kos'ka 'little horse' (I don't know if it's attested, hence the asterisk, but there is at least a Polish surname of that shape). Most likely the oldest item in your list is the hypocoristic (or shall I say hippocoristic) vocative <kos'-kos'> 'hossie-hossie', and the rest is derived from that.

 

Piotr

 

 

 

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

From: george knysh

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 9:05 PM

Subject: [tied] *ekwos and friends

Here are some words taken from Hrinchenko's Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language [1958, t. II, p. 292; t. IV, p. 330] which might have affinity to *ekwos (*EKuOS). I wonder if they are also present in other Slavic languages?:

KOS'JA = "a small mare"
KOS'KATY = "to call a horse hither"
KOS' KOS' = the actual cry summoning a horse
UKOS'KATY= "to tame a horse"
KOS'JAK= "a small herd of horses"

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.