On Sun, 4 Nov 2001 07:45:25 -0000, "P&G" <
petegray@...>
wrote:
>You could add lego (short e) ~ le:x, but what about du:co < deuco ~ dux with
>a short vowel throughout the noun paradigm? Do we just say "exception"?
>And if we do, how many such exceptions are there?
I'd say "exception". Without the benefit of a Latin et. dict., the
noun must derive from *douk-s (or *deuk-s), with obl. *duk-ós. That
should have given *du:x, ducis, but here it was the oblique stem that
"won" (the opposite of what happened with re:x, re:gis etc.). The
Ausgleich presumably happened at a stage in Latin where the paradigm
was still an awkward *douks, *dukes.
An afterthought on *-s (and *-h2) in the verb: there are a few other
forms that should have given a lengthened vowel in the stem. The
athematic imperfect (e.g. *[h1e-]es-s "you were") and root aorist
(*[h1e-]kWel-s), the thematic opt. (*-oih1-s), the 1sg. perfect
(*woid-h2). Maybe some of these lengthened grades have left traces,
but it was only in the athematic s-aorist that they formed a solid
block of 2 + 3 sg., capable of dragging along the 1sg. and eventually
the whole paradigm.