Re: [tied] Vrddhi in sigmatic aorist

>>we would expect Sanskrit stems in -i to produce a
> >long -i:s in the aorist,
>
> I don't follow. If a from like *bher-s-s [CeR-s-s] gives *bhe:rs(s)
> [Skt. bha:r], then a form like *ney-s-s [ReR-s-s] should give
> *ne:ys(s) [Skt. nais].

Woops! I was thinking of the bare stem (eg ni, stu) + s. But of course
your parallel is right, and my question vanishes. There is, however,
another question. If the vrddhi is due to loss of s after a resonant, why
do we also find it after stop consonants?
examples: stem rudh, aor 4 arautsam, arutsi (= 'obstruct')
greek re:xa from *reg (short e) present re:gnumi
('break')

I'm aware of the argument that this lengthening also affect nominatives such
as Latin pe:s < *ped-s, but here the stop consonant is lost, not the -s.
The other process would be bizzarre, surely? *peds > *pedd > *pe:d >
pe:ds (s restored analogically) > *pe:s.

Peter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miguel Carrasquer Vidal" <mcv@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Vrddhi in sigmatic aorist


> On Wed, 31 Oct 2001 20:35:01 -0000, "P&G" <petegray@...>
> wrote:
>
> >> I still haven't got those damn aorist figured out yet...
> >
> >I don't think you're alone. I find Szemerenyi's explanation for the long
> >vowel very odd. If the vowel length were simply from the insertion
of -s-
> >after a resonant, we would expect Sanskrit stems in -i to produce a
> >long -i:s in the aorist,
>
> I don't follow. If a from like *bher-s-s [CeR-s-s] gives *bhe:rs(s)
> [Skt. bha:r], then a form like *ney-s-s [ReR-s-s] should give
> *ne:ys(s) [Skt. nais].
>
> >but they don't, they give us -ais- / -es. Likewise
> >stems in -u give -aus- /-os. (These of course are long and short a + i,
> >long and short a + u in Skt) Examples:
> > stem ni: = lead
> > aorist 4: anaisi:t, nesati
>
> The forms in -i:s, -i:t are secondary (after roots ending in *-H).
> The original forms were (ind.aor.act.) h1e-ney-s-t > h1e-ne:y-st,
> (subj.aor.act.) *ney-s-e-t(i), with normal grade.
>
> > stem pru: = flow
> > aorist 4 prostha:s
> >
> > stem stu = praise
> > aorist 4: astausi:t, stosat, etc.
>
> The stem stu- (and many others ending in -u) are "Narten-presents",
> which means that they have vr.ddhi instead of gun.a, and gun.a instead
> of zero grade even outside of the sigmatic aorist.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>