PIE *akWa: 'water' (was: The role of analogy, alliteration and sand

From: Richard Wordingham
Message: 34706
Date: 2004-10-16

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex" <alxmoeller@...> wrote:
> Brian M. Scott wrote:
> >
> >> No. I did not meant the gothic "ahwa" (BTW why are you
> >> using the laringial notation here for *akWa?; my
> >> Dictionary is not sure and means there can be *akWa or
> >> *ak^wa:)

I wrote *h2akWa: for the water word because:

1) Alex suggested that it did not meet the CVC root pattern, so I
supplied the initial laryngeal to make the point that it is not
inconsistent with the pattern.

2) kW as opposed to k^w is supported by three facts:
a) kW is commoner than k^w
b) Sanskrit _ka:m_ 'water' may be connected
c) I think the root is cognate with *h2ap 'water'.

For 2(c) we might be seeing sporadic **pW > p outside Germanic while
Germanic would have **pW > *kW; alternatively, *h2ap reflects
sporadic *kW > *p.

> > ?? 'kW' is Cybalist notation for 'k^w'.
>
> and I ever thought "kW" is the notation for labiovelar:-)

You are correct, Alex. kW represents the 'labiovelar' in PIE, and
generally a labialised velar.

Richard.