Re: Slavic rezet

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex_lycos" <altamix@...> wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sergejus Tarasovas" <S.Tarasovas@...>

> I am not thinking at the methatesis of " ri" like an "irzet". I am
> thinking about the metatesi of "zet". And this is just because

there is

> a romanian word with unknown etymology which means " to cut

off", "to

> clip" . The word is "a reteza" and there are toponyms too like
> Retezatul.
> Maybe this is just a coincidence but rezet - retez looks very close

and

> if we accept the methathesis, then it is the same word. It can have

been

> 'rezet' the original word, or it could have been 'retez' the

original

> word.

But such a metathesis would be very unusual for Slavic (if you
suspect Proto-Slavic *re^zIcI to be a substrate word, derived by
metathesis from something like **retez (?)), and please note that the
Proto-Slavic and most of its historically attested reflexes have -c-
[ts] rather than plain -t- here.

> Question: which is the etymology of Slavic "rezet"?

As I wrote in my previous message, it's a transparent deverbal noun,
derived from the verb *re^zati 'to cut' with a little help of the
suffix *-IcI. The verb itself is usually etymologized as < PIE
*wreh1g^- 'break, tear to pieces' (with regular Balto-Slavic
simplification *wr- > *r).

Sergei