Re: [tied] Re: Laryngeals in IE

Torsten:

>> Which reminds me of the theory on the origin of the Assyrians in a
>> book on ancient astronomy the name the author of which escapes me,
>> that they were a Semitic people that conquered a previously

IE-

>> speaking area, and that therefore the name Assur of their

supreme
god

>> is really a Proto-II or Proto-Indic loanword

*asura. Now the
question

>> is, is 'Assur' spelled with a

laryngeal (although laryngeals were

>> lost in Assyrian by the time of

the texts)?

>>

> Come to think of it, probably a dumb

question, since Assyrian

> wouldn't have been able to indicate the

difference between syllables

> with and without an initial

laryngeal.

Really, Assyrian (and cuneiform writing at all) had no signs for phonemes more back then velar/uvular. Perhaps, Hebrew spelling can help? Is Hebrew or Phoenician word for Assur known? Although, unfortunately, Hebrew has no words with initial vowels. So there automatically is to be a glottal stop. But another laringeals can testify that they were also in Assyrian.