> I've encountered a few Slavic words beginning in /x/. Some
> dictionaries
> hypothesize about possible ks- > sk- (or vice versa) metatheses.
Can
> somebody possibly help me? What are the pros and cons? Thanks for
any > help
> or comments.
I have encountered 2 Romanian words reflecting this situation:
1. Rom. hruba 'underground cavity'
http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=hruba&source=
(considered by DEX from ucr. 'hruba')
I linked this word with Rom. SCORBURA and Alb. ZHGËRBONJIE.
http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=scorbura&source=
In my opinion all of them represent one and the same word: Dacian
*skurba-)
So the original (Dacian?) word seems to be *skurba- and based on
Proto-Albanian - Dacian transformations: *sk- > *ks- > *h- (see also
Albanians hije < PAlb. skija: 'shadow'; hënë < PAlb. skanda: 'moon' ;
hi < PAlb. s-kina: 'ash') we obtained the word *hurba.
Next my hypothesis is that this word was borrowed by the Slavs as
*hurba from the Dacian tribes at the North of what is today Romania,
around 500-700 BC. After the Slavic Metathesis teh Slavic word
arrives to be : *hruba -> next borrowed by Romanians in this form.
2. The Second word is Romanian *hrapã 'rocky versant' from
Ukrainian/Ruthenian 'hrapa' -> that seems to have the same history as
*hruba.
In my opinion the initial word was *skarpa < *karpa 'rock' (see
Alb. karpë, Carpatian Mountains and the Dacian Tribe Carpi but also
the word s^karpë 'rock' present in Romanian and Aromanian)
Applying the Proto-Albanian - Dacian transformations: *sk- > *ks-
> *h- we obtain : *harpa. Again I think that this word was borrowed
by the Slavs as *harpa from Dacians and after the Slavic Methatesis
it became *hrapa
So based on the 2 examples above my understanding is that the *sk-
> *ks- > *h- happens in a part of the areal of Daco-Moesian Dialects
(and also in Proto-Albanian or only in a part of its Dialects) and
whenever we find such impacts in the Slavic Languages that words
should be later loans in Slavic from some local Dacian Dialects (more
or less Romanized).
So my opinion is that : there is no methathesis sk > ks > h in
Slavic but only old loans reflecting this, from Dacian Tribes placed
at North of Today Romania.
I also thinks that the transformation *sk > *ks > *h didn't take
place in all the Daco-Moesian areal. Today Slovakja are a good
candidate for this (remain to identify the other regions).
Please submit me other Slavic words that you know I could try to
check them.
Only the Bests,
Marius Alexandru
2. Rom