--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...>
wrote:
> From an archaeological point of view, what are the implications of
the root *dHeig^H-, which seems to basically refer to molding of clay
or dough, giving rise to words meaning "wall"? Persian makes sense,
if it doesn't go back beyond the time they settled down in villages,
but what about Slavic and Baltic?
Wattle-and-daub constructions (for which terms derived from *dHeig^H-
seem to be appropriate) were used since the early Neolithic in
practically all the regions where we could expect to find speakers of
IE languages. Even during their "unsettled" episode the early
Iranians had at least temporary villages and were seasonal
transhumant semi-nomads rather than tent-dwelling riders permanently
on the move. There is a common Indo-Iranian word for 'brick', after
all.
Piotr