Re: [tied] The origin of *ek^wos and *o:k^u-... A mystery solved

What I mean is that the Latin evidence is not sufficient to prove that *o:k^u- 'swift' is connected with *h2ak^- 'sharp'. I know full well that the latter has hundreds of cognates PIE-wide. Of the two equations, "horse" = "swift" and "shift" = "sharp", I favour the former, though it's largely a matter of taste. Formally both are "possible if a little problematic".

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 2:02 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] The origin of *ek^wos and *o:k^u-... A mystery solved

On Thu, 1 Nov 2001 11:52:56 +0100, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote: >Latin /a/ is too common as a generalised weak-grade vowel (cf. quattuor, fractus, etc.) to be a sure indicator of *h2. The composition form *h1k^w-i- (> *&kwi- > akki-) would work here as well (BTW the comparative o:cior 'faster' < *o:kwijo:s survives in Latin). But there is more than just Latin. Pokorny gives hundreds of forms (which I don't feel like typing in) pointing to *ak^-, *a:k^-, as well as *ok^-, *o:k^-, from Greek, Celtic, Germanic, Armenian, Slavic, Baltic, Indo-Iranian, etc., all connected with the meaning "sharp" (including for instance *ák^-mn "stone"). Assuming most of these are indeed related, I see no other solution than to posit *h2ek^- (*ak^-), with Ablaut variants *h2k^- (*&k^-), *h2ok^- (*ok^-), and vrddhied *a:k^- and *o:k^-.