The phonetic value of PIE *h3 and the 'drink' root.

Dear Jens,
thank you for the circumstantial responce. I would like to contribute
a bit more than just 'thank you' to the discussion, but your analysis
is too sophisticated for the amateur like me -- not to an extent that
I wouldn't follow (though the rule *y>0/{VH_C#,VH_CC} is something
new to me, as well as the switch from unstressed *i to stressed *e as
the reduplication vowel in the 3pl inj. *pé-pH3y-nt), but enough to
keep me from commenting. I would only like to note that the
analogical levelling proposed for Slavic seems a bit tricky to me,
especially considering deverbals like *pivo 'drink', *pijanU 'drunk'
and *pivIca 'drunkard', which don't look like recent formations.

Baltic (especially Old Prussian) indeed shows a strong support for
the *po:-, whatever be it's origin (though the accent is not very
clear):

OPruss. inf. (<sup.) _p(o)u:ton_, inf. _poutwei_, _pou:t_ 'to drink',
2pl imp. _poieiti_, _pogeitty_, _puieyti_, _puietti_ (lege *puieyti),
2sg imp. _pogeis_.
On this base Maz^iulis reconstructs sup. *po:tun, inf. *po:t(wei)
(that's easy!) and 2pl imp. *po:jaiti, 2sg. imp. *po:jais resp. pres.
*po:ja- (he considers the imperative forms to be barytones, hence
unstressed *o: > unstressed *u: > (open) *u).

OPruss. _poadamynan_ 'süsse Milch', if from *po:dam-in-a- 'drinkable'
(with dialectal merger of *o: and *a: like in _da:t_ 'to give'),
would point to an alternative West Baltic pres. *po:da-, probably
from *po:- + *-da-, cf. Lith. _vérda_ 'is boiling'.

It's quite possible, that Lith. _puota`_ (acc. _puo~ta,_) 'feast'
also belongs here, if from deverb. adj. *po:ta: 'what is drunk' (with
acute->circumflex metatony, sometimes accompanying derivation adj. ->
subst.).

As to the phonetic status of *h3, I'm still not sure that this _only_
example envolving *peh3i- is enough to state it was voiced.

Sergei

--- In cybalist@..., Jens Elmegaard Rasmussen <jer@...> wrote:
> Dear Sergejaus and List,
>
> I believe I answered this some years ago. The root 'drink' is indeed
> *peH3y- and alternates accordingly, e.g., 3sg aor. *poH3-t (Skt. á-
pa:t),
> caus. *poH3y-éye-ti (pa:yáyati) with retention of -y- before a
vowel and
> loss in the environment VH_C# (and VH_CC). To go with the root
aorist
> there was a reduplicated present, of which píbati etc. is properly
the
> refashioned subjunctive. The old injunctive would be 3sg *pi-péH3y-
t >
> *pi-póH3-t, 3pl *pé-pH3y-nt > *pé-pH3-n.t (the last form with y >
zero in
> CH_CC, processed before full syllabification of the sonant, as
general
> for these rules). The injunctive was now structured exactly like,
say,
> *dhi-dhéH1-t, 3pl *dhé-dhH1-n.t and then formed its subjunctive the
same
> way, which seems to have been *dhí-dhH1-e-t(i), cf. Skt. dádhati
(with
> analogical e-reduplication from dádha:ti, witness the general type
> tís.t.hati, sí:dati etc. which must come from somewhere). For this
verb,
> the form would be *pí-pH3-e-t(i), whence PIE *píbeti. The easiest
way out
> is to consider the change pH3 > b older than laryngeal coloration,
in
> which case /-be-/ offers no problem.
> The Greek aorist épion is of the type élipon, i.e. based on the
> zero-grade with thematic inflection, in this case *pH3i-e/o-. The
> structural basis of this stem type was no doubt the old 3sg middle
of the
> root-aorist, utilized as the stem of a thematic inflection which was
> subsequently made active, i.e. 3sg mid. "*pH3i-é" -> 3sg act.
> "*pH3i-é-t". However, with this specific verb, it is probably
better to
> depart from the 3pl root aor. *pH3i-ént assuming this structure to
have
> been transferred to the *wid-é-t/*wid-ó-nt model.
> I have difficulties with OCS piti, which has an aorist 2/3sg
pi. The
> easy way out is perhaps simple levelling of the aorist paradigm
*po:-t /
> *pi(y)-ent to *pi:-t by generalization of the vowel timbre of the
weak
> forms. That would avoid a clash with Skt. ápa:t. The infinitive
will then
> be analogical as aor. by : inf. byti = aor. pi : inf. x, x = piti
> (including the accent which is circumflex on by and pi, but acute
on byti
> and piti). The old full-grade aorist /po:-/ must underlie OPruss
poieiti
> 2pl ipv. 'drink ye' and the inf. pou:ton, making the Slavic
levelling a
> post-Proto-BSl. event. Slavic went further and introduced /pi:-/
into the
> present as well, 3sg pi-je-tU (acute on -i-, cf. Lith. stó-ju for
the
> type).
> I don't know where that leaves /H3/ phonetically, except that it
must
> have been voiced and relatively weakly articulated after a stop
when the
> change occurred. For other reasons I am more inclined to think
along the
> lines of a spirant labiovelar g, but of course only where it was
> preserved.
>
> Jens