--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-
language@...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Andrew Jarrette<mailto:anjarrette@...>
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com<mailto:cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:37 PM
> Subject: [tied] *ep/op meaning "back"
>
>
> Has anyone ever commented on the fortuity whereby Greek epi "on"
(Sanskrit api of similar meaning) and Hittite appa "back(wards)" can
be united by the common idea of "back" (containing the backbone)?
epi was presumably "on the back of (an animal)" while appa
was "towards the back". From "towards the back" can be derived the
meaning "later, latter" of Sanskrit aparam, the meaning "last" of
Hittite apecis, and the meaning of English after and its Germanic
cognates. So is there any IE word *op- or *ep- that means "back"
(of a human or an animal)? Can Latin ob, Oscan/Umbrian op "near,
with, at", Venetic op "at", Latvian ap(-) "round, about, on",
Lithuanian apie, api, ap- "round" and Mycenaean opi "at" be related
to these words, perhaps from the original sense "on, upon"? And is
there any possibility that Greek apo "away, off, from" (Sanskrit apa
of similar meaning) can be connected with this common idea
of "back"? Perhaps apo meant originally "off" = "from on",
especially "off the back of (an animal)"? Or is that grasping at
straws? I'm aware that the initial a- suggests an initial laryngeal
which epi and its kin do not share, but perhaps there is some deeper
connection, i.e. the commonality of V + p + V with optional initial
laryngeal.
> Just wondering if any connection has been made regarding these
words.
>
> Andrew
> At the PIE level, there is no "optional" laryngeal initially if IE
shows an initial vowel.
>
> PIE roots were almost exclusively CVC.
>
>
> Patrick
Which means you'd have to argue it's a loan, or loan complex,
received with and without a laryngeal (the laryngeal being lost in
the donor language in the latter case).
Torsten