>
> This means that -r of all the non-IE ur-/ar- place names may
> be a genitive or locative marker (if I can explain away the
> -k- of Lithuanian Urkupis). IE does have a relic -r locative
> in pronouns (here, there, where, Lat. cur).
>
> Perhaps -r is the mark of a genitive/locative used as the subject
> marker in stative sentences in an active/stative language?
>
> "water" has at least four forms in IE:
> *w-d- : Greek hudro-, water
> *w-g- : Greek hugro-
Latin
u:ligo:, -inis "humide naturelle de la terre"
u:meo: "être humide"
u:veo: do.
u:ve:sco: "devenir humide"
u:vidus (u:dus) "humide"
Arm. oyc "frais", ON vo,kr "humide"
according to Meillet < *ug-sm-, *oug-sm- and- *e/oug-w-, aucune
histoire précise
It seems *w-gW- would fit better
> *w-s-
> *w-r- : Latin u:ri:na (Varro: u:rina:ri est merger in aquam),
urium
> (Pliny: vitium lavandi est, si fluens amnis lutum importet, id
genus
> terrae urium vocant, Iberian?, cf river Urium in Sp.),
urceus "pot",
> urna, Greek oureo: "I urinate", Skt. vá:r, vá:ri, Tokh A wa:r,
> OPr wurs "pond", ON úr "drizzle". Cf. Basque ur "water", irura
> "vega, valle". Cf the town Aurbach <- Ur-augia; the latter is then
> PIE *akW- "water", which, being a variant of *ap-, also must be a
> loan from the ur-/ar- language.
>
It turns out Basque 'ur' "water" has a combining form 'u-'. That
looks promising for '-r' being an old case ending (on the other
hand, -r- is often used in Basque as a linking vowel between vowels,
and ur- exists also as a combining form). It combines
with 'alde', 'halde' (< *kalde) "side" to Ubalde
(name), 'ugalde', 'uhalde' "stream".
Cf. 'ibai' "river", 'bide' "road", 'ibide' "ford", 'ubide' "ford"
Perhaps we should assume *u-GW- for *w-g-? That makes it tempting to
suggest that *akwa (> *aGWa) is related to all the *w-C (**GW-
C?) "water" words. It would make *akWa/*w-C- similar to the words of
Scrijver's language of bird names (Gaul. in Lat. 'alauda',
OEng 'læwirki' "lark", OHG 'arut' "ore", Finn. 'rauta' "iron",
possibly English axe, Latin cudo "hit").
After all, how would one get away with claiming the adverb
(preverb/pre/postposition) *ab is IE? It's got an /a/, it's got
a /b/, it's got nothing else, and once you said /a/, and you
said /b/, you'll have to say 'non-IE'
Torsten