Re: Fw: [tied] Latin versus *Proto-Romance

----- Original Message -----
From: "alex_lycos" <altamix@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: [tied] Latin versus *Proto-Romance



> mmm..... and what about "podU" ? ( it should mean "bridge" if I am properly informed) Is this an "o" from an *a or *a: too? Or is this a borrowed word into slavic?

I'm not sure what you mean. *podU means 'under'.

Just to elucidate that *o/*a business. Except in some special contexts,

pre-Slavic *a and *o > early Slavic *a > o
pre-Slavic *a: and *o: > early Slavic *a: > a

This is the reverse of the Germanic pattern of vowel qualities (in Germanic both short vowels fell together as *a and both long vowels gave *o:).

Piotr