On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 10:19:14 +0100, Piotr Gasiorowski
<
gpiotr@...> wrote:
>On 05-02-14 23:56, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:
>
>> But *pótnih2 is the feminine of *pótis (*pótyo:n), not of
>> *pót-h1-onts.
>
>How do you know? It's the feminine term _corresponding_ to *potis, but
>not necessarily _derived_ directly from it. My whole point is that they
>may be independent derivatives of *poth1- 'be able', *potnih2 being
>actually more closely related to Lat. potens (which frequently means
>'master'). I don't quite believe in *potyo:n being older than *poti-,
>since an extension involving the common individualising/definite suffix
>*-o:n is surely a plausible analysis of the former.
In my personal belief system, it would be hard not to
believe in *pótyo:n, as the form followed inevitably from
the soundlaws[*] first, and only after that I found the
Tocharian form to match.
Of course I'm not denying that the root *pot- occurred with
the "stative" suffix *-eh1(i)-. I just don't see how
inserting a laryngeal makes the derivation of *potnih2 any
easier, and the participal suffix -nt- (why was it reduced
to -n-?) disconnects the feminine from the masculine form.
A form *pot-h1i-n(t)-ih2 would have given Skt. *path(i)ni:,
not patni:. Same goes for a masc. *pot-h1i-s, where would
then expect Av. *pa(i)Ti, not <paiti>. Cf. the Indo-Iranian
forms of N. *póntoHs, A. *póntHm., G. *pn.tHós (Skt. N.
pántha:s, A. pántha:m, obl. path-; Av. N. pantå:, A.
panta,m, obl. paT-, OPers. A. paTim).
As is the case in the u-stems, the presence of original
-(i)n- in what later became i-stems should not be a
surprise. Not only do we have neuter i/n-stems in Vedic,
but some forms originating in the old in-stems have
permeated the i-stem paradigm (although to a much lesser
degree than in the u-stems): Isg. -ina:, Gpl. -i:na:m, NA
du. n. -ini:, NA pl. n. -i:ni. And there is of course
patni:, which must stand in the same relationship to patis
(mutatis mutandis) as genitive asthnas stands to asthi.
All it takes is a pre-PIE soundlaw that labialized coronals
in general after stressed **ú and palatalized at least *n
after stressed **í. That explains the s/t stems (e.g.
*mát-nu:t-s > *méh1no:ts, G. mat-nút-a:s > *m(e)h1nésos
"moon, month"; *-u:t-s > *-wó:ts, G. *-út-a:s > *-úsos
ptc.pf.act.), the u/n-stems (e.g. *pá(:)k^-un >
*pék^ur/*pók^ur, *pa(:)k^-ún-a:s > *pék^-wos ~ *pk^-wós
"cattle", or *dá:r-un > dóru(r), G. *da(:)r-ún-a:s > *dérwos
~ *drunós) and the i/n-stems, such as *h2óstH-i(n),
*pót-i(n).
[*]
*pá:t-in-z > *pá:t-y&n-s > *pá:t-y&:n > *pótyo:n;
*pá:t-in-m > *pá:t-y&n-m > *pá:t-y&m > *pótim;
*pa:t-ín-a:s > *pa:t-ín^-a:s > *pa:t-&'y-a:s > *pá:t-&y-a:s
> *pótyos.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...