Re: wre:g^, wro:g^ 'break'

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "P&G" <petegray@...> wrote:

> Miguel:
> Full grade *wreh1g^- > wre:g^-, o-grade (e.g. perfect) *wroh1g^- >
> *wro:g^-. Zero grade *wr&1g^- > wrag^- (although in Greek one

would

> perhaps expect *wreg^-; the occurrence of rhag- here is an argument
> for the traditional position that *&(1/2/3) all give *a, even in
> Greek).
>
> Rix is in line with Miguel and offers:
> Full grade : aorist ?*wreh1g' Greek erre:xa
> Zero grade : Present ?*wrh1g'-neu/nu Greek rhe:gnumi
> Fientive ?*wrh1g'-eh1/h1 Greek up-errage:
> o grade : Perfect *we-wroh1g' Greek erro:ge
>
> The perfect should have gone *we-wro:g > we-iro:g > eiro:g, so the

attested

> form has been rebuilt. The perfect erre:cha also occurs.
> The present apparently shows rh1 > re: instead of the more normal

er (or

> ere). According to Beekes (Development of the PIE Laryngeals in

Greek)

> there are other cases of this (as of rh3 > ro:).

How rare is e-grade with -neu/nu? The Greek text book example
deíknu:mi 'show' has e-grade.

> The zero grade thus has two apparent outcomes here, one of which

(re:) is

> found elsewhere, and the other of which occurs only the aorist

passive where

> the -a- vowel is almost universal on forms that do not have the

productive

> suffix -the:n. For example:
> di-ephthare:n etaphe:n eklape:n espare:n estale:n

estraphe:n

> esphale:n
> etrape:n etraphe:n ephane:n echare:n
> So I don't believe it is a purely phonetic development here.

Analogy must

> surely have played a part. Therefore Miguels' comment that &

(1/2/3) all > a

> in Greek cannot be supported from this evidence.

I must agree that analogy did occur to me - for a second aorist
active the analogy would have been even stronger. However, what
about other zero grade forms? For *wreh1g^, we have rhagás 'tear,
chink'. *b immediately raises suspicions.

Piotr offered the schwebeabluat pair *terh1b, *treh1b 'building,
dwelling'. If the Greek forms trápe:x 'post' and téramna, téremna
(pl.) 'chambers' are genetically related as Pokorny suggests, they
show *rh1 > ra just as in the zero grade of *wreh1g^-.

Richard.