--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "P&G" <petegray@...> wrote:
> This pattern suggests strongly that we have a sound change:
> *ed + vowel > ed-
> *ed + dental consonant > e:s-
> but the details are disputed.
I am pretty sure "Lachmann's Law" *is* a phonetic rule, if of a
strange kind, i.e. with an *analogical input*. There is no natural
basis for -g-t- or -d-t- in Latin, because these combinations had
already been assimilated. But wherever the elements were pieced
together again, the second time around they were treated according
to the new fashion, in which the voicing in *ag-to-s rubbed off on
the vowel leaving length which remained when the new -g-t- was also
assimilated, so that the result was a:ctus. Thus, e:st 'eats' will
be from restored *ed-ti, which gave *e:ss(i), with renewed ending
then e:st. Unrestored forms are tussis 'cough' or sessus, scissus,
fissus.
Jens