Re: [tied] What song did the IEs sing?

----- Original Message -----

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 8:25 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] What song did the IEs sing?

On 05-01-17 11:43, Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> If you want me to go on speculating about the underlying root, PIE
> *g(W)eh1(i)- (or *g(W)eih1-?)/*g(W)ih1- 'sing, call' (= Pokorny's
> "long-diphthong" *ge:i, cf. Skt. ga:yati, gi:tá-, Av. ga:þa:, Lith.
> giedóti) looks like a promising guess.

I began having second thoughts about this root as soon as I'd posted the
above. Or rather first thoughts, since the first time round I simply
followed the analysis offered by standard reference sources (see e.g.
EIEC, where the root is given as *geh1(i)- -- a direct translation of
Pokorny's *ge:(i)- into "Modern PIE"). This of course doesn't account
for the retention the velar in _all_ Indo-Iranian forms (except in
reduplication syllables, as in 3sg. perf. jagau < *g(W)e-g(W)oH-e).
Given that the comparative evidence for e-grade forms is shaky,
something like *g(W)ah2(i)- could be posited instead, but how does one
derive *gi:tá- from it? If it results from -Hi- > -iH- metathesis in
Indo-Iranian, is this metathesis later than the palatalisation of
velars? Any ideas, anyone?

Piotr