Re: [tied] Re: Earth and Thorn

From: Mate Kapovic
Message: 39178
Date: 2005-07-11

----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick Ryan
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2005 9:58 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Earth and Thorn



[Patrick:]
>   Some very competent linguists of the past (Benveniste, for one)
looked at the disconnect between Hittite and _ALL_ the other IE-
derived languages, and concluded that Hittite introduced the
metathesis; so the original form was *g^h-Dem- (I will use -D for
bar-d, thorn).

[Jens:]
Did he really? Then he was wrong, and everyone who has chosen to
follow him has been wrong too. 
 
***
Patrick:
 
And Benveniste was backed in his opinion by Pokorny, who, might be said, to have been somewhat knowledgeable.
 
****
 
Mate:
 
I would just like to say to calling in for the authorities is not serious linguistics. One should look at all the evidence, decide for himself what the best solution is and defend his view. Saying stuff like "Pokorny thought" or "Benveniste said" is hardly proof for anything in real science.
As for your Hittite mumbo-jumbo, I simply don't have patience or time to read those amateur "theories" about imaginary *dhig'hom etc. You should first consult some basic literature and than go on.