From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 33236
Date: 2004-06-15
----- Original Message -----
From: <enlil@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 8:04 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Old Czech hp �n vs. Modern Czech pan, p�n
> Piotr on /despoina/:
> > Elements of compounds are typically prone to segmental reduction.
>
> Really, eh? Just like *demos 'of the house' > *dems?
As regards its origin, *dems poti- is not a typical compount but a
univerbated noun phrase; otherwise we would expect something like *dm.- as
the first element. Since no vocalic reduction is visible in the root,
there's some reason to believe that *dems is indeed the archaic genitive of
the noun, preserved in this fossilised phrase. But otherwise your point is
valid: compositional reduction is possible in original phrases as well, see
English gospel < go:d spel and tuppence < two pence.
Piotr