From: alex_lycos
Message: 18089
Date: 2003-01-25
> ----- Original Message -----The only supposed word I know is the celtic *wird-?? = green
> From: "alex_lycos" <altamix@...>
> To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 6:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Yellow as an PIE word
>
>
>
>
>> Should it be the only one? What about *verdh wachsen, steigen; hoch'
>> ?
> In this case we will have the root "verd" already in PIE and no need
> of Latin for explaining romance "verde" trough elidation of "i" from
> Latin viridis
>
> The derivation of <verde> etc. from <viridis> is straightforward and
> unproblematic. Both words mean 'green'. The syncope of the unstressed
> medial /i/ in <virdis> is not only a natural process but it's also
> directly attested (see, e.g., _Appendix Probi_). Why complicate
> matters by introducing unattested and unlikely prototypes? Of course
> Latin couldn't have been the source of the Romance word, since in
> Latin *werdH- would have become *verb-. But do you know a reflex of
> *werdH- in _any_ language with the meaning 'green' or the like?
>
> Piotr