Re: [tied] a question regarding Latin nasal

On Sun, 9 Feb 2003 13:29:14 +0100, "alex_lycos" <altamix@...>
wrote:

>I wonder if this is an accident or not.
>There are for instnace some words where the Latin has an nasal "n" at
>the end of the word.
>femina, serpens, catena (*catesna)
>About the word "femina" I learn this is in fact originally an "fem" (I
>hope this information is not wrong, is in my Stowasser dictionary).

The root is fe:- < *dhe:- "to suck". dhe:-mh1n-ah2 is a derivation
with the middle/passive present participle ending *-mh1nos, *-mh1nah2
(Grk. -menos, -mene:) [this participle is otherwise lost in Latin].

>So
>we have the form "fem-" as root
>'serpens' seems to be a derivative from 'serpo'. Again here, the other
>cognates in PIE languages shows no "n" but just *serp-

*serp-ent- is a derivation with the _active_ present participle ending
*-ent-/*-ont-, which was very much alive in Latin.

>I take the word "catena"= handcuffs.
>This Latin word comes from an older *catesna

Here we have a formation in *-nos, *-neh2.

>These 3 words for instnace, have all 3 cognates in Rom. ( my opinion)
>Latin. femina, rom. fem-eie - semantism OK
>Latin serpens,- rom. Sarpe (dialectal Serpe) - semantism OK
>Latin catena ( *catesna)= rom. catuSa -- semantism OK
>
>1) Rom. Word "femeie" ( women) is givin as deriving from latin
>"famiglia" (family)

That is correct.

>2) rom. Word cãtuSa (handcuffs) is given with unknown etymology
>3) the PIE cognates for "serpens" shows no "n".

They do: Skt. sarpant-, Grk. hérpo:n (hérpont-) "the creeping one".

Additional on serpe:ns, serpentem: I had forgotten about Ita. serpe,
which can perhaps be explained by loss of -n in Eastern Romance, but
not so Cat./Occ. serp, Old Cast. sierpe. As Meyer-Lübke already
showed, Lat. serpe:ns, pronounced /serpe:s/, when the semantic
connection with the participle loosened up, was reinterpreted as an
e:-stem serpe:s, serpe:m (or later even as a C-stem serps, serpem),
which then gives the Romance forms. The form serpent (Cat/Occ/Fre),
serpiente (Cast) is learned, not inherited.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...