05-08-03 11:00, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:
> Even though my German etymological dictionary explicitly denies it, the
> connection of Germanic *ga- with PIE *k^om- as an unstressed Verner variant
> is usually accepted.
There's nothing problematic about pre-Gmc. *k(^)om- > *xan- > *xa- >
*ga- if we admit the possibility that the prefix behaved differently
from initial syllables in lexical roots (there was a small discussion of
that on Cybalist some time ago; I argued that already in pre-Vernerian
times roots had some kind of demarcative secondary stress on the initial
syllable). The full form *xan- can perhaps be found in *xanso: 'cohort,
troop, guild' (Goth./OHG hansa, OE ho:s, Finn. kansa 'people, nation' [a
loan from Gmc.]), if it reflects participial *kontsta: < *kom-dH(h1)tah2
from *kom-dHeh1- 'establish' (or the like), cf. Lat. condere.
Piotr