Re: [tied] Re: Of Vennemann's proposals

Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> Finally, if transmitted by the early mediaeval Slavic occupants of the
> area, *aps- (whether borrowed in this form from an unknown ethnos or,
> more likely, from Gmc. *afs-) would have been simplified to *os- due to
> the constraints of Slavic phonotactics, and the German-speakers who came
> there about the 13th c. would not have been able to restore the labial.

To be sure, this particular objection to Krahe's etymology is less fatal
for Demelt's original proposal, *apis-, which would have become Slavic
*opIs- > *ops- (/ps/ became permissible after the loss of the weak
vowels), but the other objections remain valid (no early attestation, a
different attested name in the Middle Ages, a convincing modern etymology).

Piotr