Morten:
> Me to Glen: Sorry Glen, you misunderstood me. I've never proposed
> that "zi-" is a prefix, neither have I meant etruscan to be related
> to sumerian, english or norwegian. I just pointed out that there are
> onomatepoeia related to the meaning breathe in the three languages.
Sure, but neither "breathe" nor "zivas" appear to be among them.
The fact that an unattested **zi- was even mentioned at all (which it
apparently was), regardless of whether it is a prefix or something else,
means that a logical reason for this otherwise random splitting is
necessary. There doesn't appear to be, as far as I can see.
One would be more inclined to acknowledge a root *ziva- instead because
the /-s/ ending is known to be an ending on other verb roots. Now, does
*ziva- sound like onomatepoeia? Perhaps, perhaps not. How could we
possibly settle the question given the current state of knowledge on
Etruscan?
= gLeN