Re: Alb. "vatër" ( it was (Re: [tied] Re: Albanian valle )

On 04-11-21 21:46, altamix wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Abdullah Konushevci"
>
>>PIE root *a:ter- 'fire' > Albanian Geg <votër>, Tosk <vatër> is
>>regular outcome, for PIE /*a:/ yields in Albanian /o/.
>
>
> it is right "a:" > "o"; that does not explain the "va-". There is no
> other word -so far I know- which shows an initial "va-" in Albanian
> and which derive from an IE root with an initial "a:"

There is no such thing as "initial *a:" in PIE. This particular
pre-Albanian *a:- (> *o- > va-/vo) derives from PIE *h2ah1- in
*h2ah1-tr-; the a-colouring is from the root-initial *h2, and the length
from the root-final *h1. The combination is so rare that one can
scarcely hope to find another example in Albanian, but, fortunately,
early *o- of ANY origin became Tosk va-, even in loans such as Tosk
varfër, Geg vorfën 'poor' <-- orphanu-, or Tosk vaj, Geg voj 'oil' <--
oleu-. So the <va-> is fully explained.

Piotr