Re: [tied] Re: Latin [homo] from PIE *dhgho_mon- = Earth dweller?

On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:42:10 +0200, Piotr Gasiorowski
<gpiotr@...> wrote:

>On 8/30/04 3:26 AM, Kim Bastin wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 16:55:58 -0000, Anthony Appleyard wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Someone wrote:
>>>
>>>>Is there any explanation of Latin _hu:ma:nus_, in particular its
>>>>long >/u:/ ?
>>>
>>>There may be some influence from [humus] = "ground": "one who lives
>>>on Earth" as distinct from gods and spirits.
>>
>>
>> But _humus_ is from the same *dhgh^em- root anyway. And _humus_ has a
>> short u.
>
>I simply don't know a plausible explanation of <hu:ma:nus>. Hypothetical
>*g^Hm.hnos might perhaps have yielded *(g?)ma:nus, possibly reshaped to
>restore the connection with <humus>, but why the length?, or if with
><u:> from *oi, why "on earth" the diphthong?

Perhaps original *(g?,h?)ma:nus was reshaped to establish an
unetymological connection with (h)u:m- ((h)u:meo,
(h)u:midus, (h)u:mor), by a transfer from the earth-element
to the water-element (a human being consists of 90% water,
or some figure like that, wasn't it?). Might also explain
the spurious h- on the hu:m-words.


=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...