Jens:
> Its just "fart" (Greek bdéo:). The whole point about the o/zero
> alternation in formations with the suffix *-éye- is that they do not
> normally show the causative meaning.
Well, I guess there's no need to pull _your_ finger. Thanks for the
aromatic information.
> It may still be doubted, but the best basis for ding that would be
> to quote a positive example of what the structure does give if not
> this, i.e. a verb of the structure *posd-éye- without causative
> meaning. Do you know any to decide the question?
Like I said, *pesd- appears to most people to be simply an expressive
verb root. Afterall, the *sd combination is a little strange otherwise
(not impossible, I know, but suspect) and the verb doesn't lend well
to analysis. Certainly breaking it down to *pes- + *-d- makes no
sense.
I'd guestimate that it's simply an echoic twist on an original root
*perd- with purposeful confusion with *pes-, the "piss" root. That way,
we have a pair, *pes- and *pesd-, just ripe for down-home poetry 'round
the campfire. Actually, I just thought up a rhyme myself. Perhaps I'll
share it with you one day :)
I'd say that if only a handful of roots, expressive at that, do not
conform to the picture I paint that otherwise explains a pattern nicely,
then I can live with that and so can most others. Minor exceptions are
okay as long as they remain minor. At least there's an explanation to
a pattern that no one else could come up with. It seems to be a start.
= gLeN