Re: [tied] Greek double-sigma / double-tau

Hey again. I managed to find some info in a volume of Karl
Brugmann's comparative IE work.

I still have the question about the origin of the Greek word for sea,
though: was thalassa/thalatta a native Greek word - decended from
IE? If not, where was it picked up from? And either way, what was
the "original" meaning?

Thx! =)



--- In cybalist@..., Piotr Gasiorowski <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
wrote:

> I answered a similar question at length some time ago. I'll try to

find the relevant posting(s) in our vast archives. Briefly: -tt-/-ss-
reflect as old affricate (not unlike "ch" in English) from still
older *-tj- or *-kj-. (Cf. gotcha < got ya).

>
> Piotr
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Eris
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 12:07 AM
> Subject: [tied] Greek double-sigma / double-tau
>
> Hello all,
>
> Concerning the double-sigma/double-tau in Old Greek (for example,

thalassa

> versus thalatta):
>
> Which was the original form, ss or tt?
>
> What was the IE "root sound"?
>
> In which dialects, exactly, and at what time(s) during the course

of "old

> Greek" did it change from one to the other?
>
> Is there any particular reason for the change(s), or was it just a
> run-of-the-mill sound shift?
>
> Is there any easy way for someone actively studying old Greek

morphology

> and syntax (me :) to tell when the change has occurred in a word,

just by

> looking at a word and not knowing anything about the word?
>
> Were the phonemes of the double-sigma and double-tau rearticulated

(e.g.,

> "two unvoiced dental stops 'right in a row'"), or was the first

phoneme in

> each said and then "held on to". (I don't know the term for that,
> obviously, I'm sure you can figure out what I mean.)
>
> Concerning specifically the word thalassa/thalatta, was that a

native word

> before the Greeks moved in? (If so, did it mean "sea" previously

as

> well? And what is the oldest known form of it written?) I haven't

been

> able to find a cognate in other languages is why I ask.
>
> TiA,
> Lisa