On 9/8/04 12:32 AM, Richard Wordingham wrote:
>>Also, the reconstructed IE word for "right" is *deksteros, correct?
>
>
> I'm not sure we can go beyond *dek^s-. *deksteros is at best
> Italic. Greek has a basic term _deksiós_, with a comparative
> formation _deksiterós_. Balto-Slavonic and Indo-Iranian argue for
> *dek^sino-. Celtic and Germanic show *dek^s(o)wo-.
I suppose *dek^s-i- underlies most of these forms. *-tero- is merely a
suffix of binary comparison, reinforcing the opposition of "right :
left", and the Italic word may well be *dek^si-tero- with trivial
syncope (cf. Lat. hi:bernus vs. Gk. kHeimerinos). The nasal in
*dek^sino- may ultimately be the same thing as the "intrusive /n/" known
from Greek phrasal sandhi (<esti(n)>), whatever the details of its
origin (I am sure Jens and Miguel would have interesting things to say
about it). So *dek^si-no- and *dek^si-o- would both represent
thematicisations of *dek^s-i- (the former of them more archaic and less
transparent).
Piotr