Re: Indo-European /a/

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "elmeras2000" <jer@...> wrote:
> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Kuhn points out that the latest-acquired domesticated plants

and

> > > animals seem to have root /a/. That would speak for all such
> words
> > > being loans.
> >
> > Could you give a little list - and a specific reference? That
> could
> be
> > very helpful. Any possible connection with Schrijver's language

of

> > bird names?
> >
> *dam- "zähmen"

Generally posited as *demH2-, but there is not a single attestation
of the root vowel as /e/. Interesting.

*ag- "treiben"

Generally posited as *H2eg^-, laryngeal proved by Ved. í:jate from
*Hí-Hg^-e-tor, but laryngeal colour unsupported; note Hitt. akkalan
(acc., ntr.?) 'furrow' which speaks against *H2-. Root really *H1ag^-
?

> *ar- "pflügen"

Generally posited as *H2erH3-; loan relation with Semitic possible.
Tocharian A and B have a:re 'plow' (sbst.).

> alternating with a:, ai, au :
> OE *a:te "Hafer" < *aito:(n), got. atisk "Saatfeld", lat
> ador "Spelt".

ai/a as in the birds' names. Points to substratum.

> *agros "Acker"

Certainly PIE word, but earlier borrowing possible. Connection with
*Hag^- 'drive' seems obvious. Word-formation not clear: *-ro- should
form adjectives.

> *bhars-/*bharis (lat. far "Spelz", germ.
> *bariz "Gerste", gk phe:ron "Nahrung" < *bharsom),

Impressive with its stable /a/.

> gr. kapos/ke:pos "Garten", germ. *ho:Bo: "Hufe",

Looks like a locus/loca pair with accent shift.

> gr. ákhne: germ.
> *ah(a)no:/*ag(a)no: "Spreu" lat. agna "Ähre", lat. acus "Spreu",
> germ.*ahs-/**ahis- "Ähre",

This looks indigenous IE: *H2ek^- 'prick, be sharp', *H2(e)k^-ro-
'sharp'. s-stem normal in IE adjectival nouns, *H2ák^-os/es- would
be 'sharpness'.

> gr. kaláme: germ *halmaz OBg slama
> "Halm, Stroh".

Looks like *k^ál&-mos, *-maH2

> Of these only agros is found in IndIr.

> Lat. fa:ba "Bohne"

Recte faba. Collective corresponding to Sl. bobU. Strange
relationship to Gk. phákos, Alb. bathë, even stranger to Germ.
*bauno: .

> ra:pa "Rübe"

Slavic re^pa would demand positing a pair *ré:H2p-/*ráH2p-. That
could be inherited, but if re^p- is from *raip- it is rather a bird-
language word.

> gr aiks etc "goat"

Even strengthened by the vacillation *(H)ayg^-/*(H)ag^-, cf. Skt.
ajá:-, Lith. oz^y~s, probably even OCS koza. The palatal is
supported by Armenian ayc.

> lat. caper "goat"

Again *-ro- not forming adjectives. Looks foreign.

> MHG hatele etc "goat"
> lat. haedus etc "goat"

Very impressive. I understand the Semitic form is *gadj-. Can't
check here right now.

> *ghans- "goose"

Skt. ham.sá- ensures PIE age. But that could be a borrowing already.

> *anat-/*natja "duck"
>
> Of these, the duck word shows the aCC-/CaC- alternation
> charateristic
> of the words from Schriijver's language of bird names.

It works fine as *án&2t-iH2/*n.H2t-yáH2-, but the vocalism is
remarkable: initial plain /a-/. Looks like a borrowed word in PIE
already.

>
> Many of them belong to a group of words that have /a/ in both

Latin

> and Germanic: ad/at, aqua/ahwa, arcus/earh etc. Among them is
> Latin annum, Gothic athn- "year", to which I'll compare Basque
> adin "age". This is obviously not a Basque loan from Latin.
>
> Further, a lot of water words: aqua, lacus, stagnum, na:vis,
> na:re/nata:re, vadum, mare. + Greek: *sandaz, *o:fero, OE
> no:sa "peninsula" vs gr. ne:sos (For some reason, all these occur

on

> my list of possible Austronesian cognates).

'Peninsula' could be derived from 'nose', but that is strange too.

Ufer looks old, Gmc. *o:fera-, Gk. é:peiros pointing to *á:per-o-/*-
yo-. Derived from *ap- 'water' or from *apo 'off'? Or are both
related?

Celtic -o- in OIr. loch, muir is strange.

MHG sampt 'sand' points to accent doublets: PGmc. *samft/*sand- from
*sámHt-/*samHt-´ (regular Verner-sensitive treatment of mt in
Germanic).

stagnum could have regular schwa secundum: /stgno-/ would be
regularly realized as [st'gno-] with a rudimentary vowel.

na:vis is well-supported by other IE languages; so is na:re, Ved.
sná:ti 'wash'.

> And further, Kuhn points out that in the system of Old European
> hydronyms, /a/ is very frequent, especially initially. Obviously,
> the last invading wave of IE-speakers must have arrived after
> pre-PIE /a/ was finished getting ablauted, leaving a vacant
> place in the vowel system.

This is a very interesting and most impressive list, certainly
showing something we have to take seriously.

I do not understand the last sentence of yours, about /a/
being "finished getting ablauted". I agree if it just means that the
foreign /a/ added a new vowel to the language at a time when any
earlier /a/ had already been changed to /e/ (or its prestage) in pre-
PIE. Your wording sounds cryptic to me; could you to specify what
you really mean?

Jens