Re: [tied] Re: *pot-

On 05-02-20 18:03, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:

> Are we sure it's not ekHi:dna? The normal treatment after
> /i/ is to lengthen the vowel (ekHidnia > ekHijdna =
> ekHi:dna).

I know of no evidence either way. At least, it isn't *ekHi:na -- that
is, the stop is there, whatever has happened to the glide. The analogy
of <potna> (not *poitna) makes me think that the glide in such cases was
dropped rather than matathesised.

>>It looks as if the *-tn- had undergone irregular simplification in
>><despoina> after all. Cf. the very early reduction of *-pt- to -p- in
>>compounds like <aigupios> (cf. Skt. r.ji-pyá-), not found in simplex words.
>
>
> -pio-/-pya- from *peth2- "fly"?

Yeah, 'swift-winged', like Lat. accipiter (cf. Gk. argos or argi-pous
'swift(-footed)' as an epithet of dogs, and "Macedonian" argiopous
'eagle'), What else can it be?

> If it had been reduced even further, -pt- (< *pj-) would
> have been restored in Greek...

... making Aigyptos an ornithological folk etymology after all :) ?

Piotr