Re: -affa (was: The role of analogy, alliteration and sandhi in cou

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex" <alxmoeller@...> wrote:

> Richard Wordingham wrote:
>
> > Richard:
> > PIE *kW and *k^w (I take it k'W is a mistyping of k'w) have
> > different reflexes. *kW yields Centum /kw/ and Satem /k/. *k^w

is

> > a cluster, and yields (generally) Centum /kw/ and Satem *k^

reflex +

> > w. The best known example of *k^w is in *ek^wos 'horse', which
> > yields Sanskrit as'va-. Another example of the cluster is in
> > *k^won 'dog', but complications arise with the zero grade.
>
> something is not clear to me in this root.Apparently the "k^w" in

this root

> is proposed just because of the Avesatn/Sanskrit reflexes ("s"

instead of

> "c^" ). For all other languages the labiovelar should work just

fine.

> If for other languages there is a normal reflex of "kW", then is

not wiser

> to think the palatalisation of "c^" to "s" in Sanskrit will be a

later

> reflex of a regular "c^" from an IE "kW"?

Wouldn't *ekWos have yielded Sanskrit *aka-, Avestan *aka-? Also,
there'd still be the labial element to explain. Moreover, I'm not
aware of any argument against a derivation from *o:k^u 'swift'.

I suspect you're just trying to dismiss the Thracian names believed
to be compounded with the word for horse.

Richard.