On Sun, 27 Jan 2002 16:36:54 +0100, "Piotr Gasiorowski"
<
gpiotr@...> wrote:
>Maybe the assumption that liquids block it is unfounded. Consider *ablu- > *a:blU-ko.
Well, Lith. N. óbuolos, Latv. âbuols point to a paradigm *h2ábo:l(s),
*h2bél-os ~ *h2b-l-ós, which would have given Slavic *a:ba:l- / *obl-.
There are numerous examples of Winter's law being blocked by a
following sonorant ("Winter's Law of Balto-Slavic lengthening", Jens
E. Rasmussen (1992) gives: La. agns, Li. ugnìs, Sl. ognI "fire"; La.
ùogle, Sl. o~glI "coal"; Li. gie~dras, gaidrùs "heiter"; La. idrs
"mouldering"; Li. lùgnas "biegsam"; Li. sla~bnas "kraftlos"; Li.
vìglas "rührig"; Sl. dUbrU "abyss"; BS *pigrás "lazy". The last two
have in Lith. been replaced with r-less forms, that still lack
Winter's lengthening (dubùs, pigùs).
As to the remaining exceptions (no lengthening where we would expect
it), I agree with Jens' analysis of the categories (1) B/D/G appear
after a sonorant mut may have original bh/dh/gh or laryngeal bH/dH/gH,
(2) possible Germanic loans, (3) other cases of laryngeal-caused
aspiration, and (4) non-lengthening in pre-pretonic vowel.
That leaves the exceptions which, according to Jens, show blocking of
Winter's Law in tonic position: Li. sèg-ti "attach"; Sl. voda "water";
Li. smagùs, La. smags, smagrs "heavy"; Li. ligà "illness". "Water"
has been dealt with. Li. smagùs is the same case as dubùs and pigùs
(*smagrás). Li. ligà "illness" may simply have nothing to do with
Grk. olígos "little". That leaves the root *seg-, *seng-, Slavic
*se~gno~ti, iter. *sagati. I don't think there's much there to
justify a rule blocking Winter's law in the tonic position, which
excuses me of having to sort through the cases that *do* show
lengthening to explain lengthenings in tonic position (like *h2ábo:l >
óbuolos, for instance).
I'm obviously not excused when it comes to lengthenings in the
position V(:)DR, which should have been blocked. I see, at a quick
glance, three counter-examples: Sl. agne~ "lamb", Sl. naglU "sudden",
and the "otter" word.
>Isn't Slavic *vedro- related to Gmc. wedra- < *wedHro- 'weather' rather than to 'water'?
Chernyx (Istoriko-e.timologicheskij slovar') connects it with "water".
Are there other examples of *wedhro- outside Germanic?