Re: [tied] Re: Satem and desatemisation (was: Albanian (1))

27-01-04 02:20, elmeras2000 wrote:

> I found the evidence frustratingly ambiguous when I last looked into
> it.
>
> qeth 'cut (hair)' cannot be proved to have lost an /r/ and reflect
> *kert-V-.

I agree (pace Hamp). As Alb. <-th> may represent generalised devoiced
*-D < *d, why not propose *kaid- (cf. Lat. caedo:) here? Another
(perhaps more straightforward) possibility is *kaik^-, as in Skt. kes'a-
'hair of the head'. In neither case, of course, can <qeth> be used as
evidence for the behaviour of *k before front vowels.

> gjen 'find' does not have to reflect *ghend- (Gk. khandáno:, Lat.
> prae-hendo:), but could also de *ghond-eye- with umlaut. It could
> even be connected with Skt. sanóti.

I doubt the latter, but the causative derivation looks very plausible to
me, and so <gjen> is also ruled out as evidence.

> kohë 'time' is certainly from *ke:sa: (or *ke:sk^a:), but did the
> root still have a front vowel when palatalizations would have
> worked?

<korr> 'reap, harvest' looks like a derivative of *(s)ker- 'cut', though
I don't know how to explain the lengthened vowel.

> To assess this the word zorrë 'intestine' is of relevance. But can
> that really be sensibly derived from *gWe:rna: ? What word-formation
> from *gWerH3- 'devour, swallow' could mean 'intestine'? What
> parallel examples are there?

The semantic question aside, how about the possibility that pre-Albanian
had compensatory lengthening in *eRh > *e:r? The idea has just occurred
to me and requires some testing, but the same solution might work for
<sorrë> (see below) and perhaps for <korr>.

> However, I do think the matter is decided by sorrë 'blackbird' which
> must be connected with Skt. kr.s.n.a- 'black', thus reflecting
> *kWe:rsna:. The Slavic forms (Russ. soróka, SCr. svraka) must be
> loanwords then.

Given the exact correspondence between Slavic *s(v)orka and Lith. s^árka
(same accent, too) the 'magpie' word just has to be Proto-Balto-Slavic.
The crow species found in East/Central Europe and the Balkans is the
hooded crow (_Corvus cornix_), which is light ash-grey with black wings,
tail, head and bib (the same parts which are black in a magpie), rather
than uniformly black. I think a connection between "Balkan" *c^o:r(r)a
(underlying <sorrë> and <cioarã>) and BSl. c'(w)ár-ka: (as if from
*k^worh-) is therefore quite plausible (cf. also Skt. s'a:rika: 'myna').
If the idea suggested above (compensatory lengthening in *-erh-) makes
any sense, one might suggest *k^werh-nah2 or *k^werh-snah2 > *k'we:rna:

> sorrë.

You have overlooked <dergjem> 'lie down suffering' < *sworgH-eje-, which
shows unpalatalised *gH as opposed to Alb. (n-)dez < *dHogWH-eje-. This
one is _not_ ambiguous.

Piotr