[tied] Re: Short and long vowels

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

>
> If combined with *bheH2r-, 'what protrudes, **male genital',
> we obtain *bhar- + *á:tr.-, which would give *bhrá:tr.-,

'male

> part of the family'. To connect it with 1. *bher- is rather too
> broad. What, pray tell, did the primeval son 'carry'?

It was the brother, not the son, and the P.I.E. brother,
not the primeval: We'll surely never know much about any
"primeval" language. Moreover it wasn't even really the
brother, in the most common use of the English word, but
rather the kinsman. In the ancient tribal societies one's
kinsmen were his supporters (*bher-).

> Unfortunately, the two major sources I use for attempting to
> triangulate earlier forms, Egyptian and Sumerian, have nothing
> to contribute for these words.

No connection between Egyptian, Sumerian, and P.I.E. has
ever been properly demonstrated, so nothing can properly
be claimed about P.I.E. or Pre-P.I.E. on the basis of such
comparisons in any case.

David