*ke:so- [was: Albanian outside the centum-satem division?]

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, mkapovic@... wrote:

> > Albanian is sometimes said to be outside the centum-satem

division

> > because, before a front vowel, (as if) *k, *g(h) preserve while

*kW,

> > *gW(h) change into s, z.
> >
> > The most known example of the preserving is Alb. kohë <
> > *ke:so- "time". But... Jacobson associated this word, known only
> > from Balto-Slavic and Albanian, with Slavic kosa "scythe", which

is

> > from *k'os- (Sanskr. ças "cut")!
> >
> > So, this word can be just a borrowing from a centum language and

it

> > cannot be taken as a serious piece of evidence.
>
> Well, the phonetics and meaning work just fine in *ke:so- > c^asU,

kohë.

> As for *k'os- > kosa (with possible *k'-s > *k-s), the semantics of
> "scythe" and "time" is not very obvious (one could of course

imagin the

> time as being cut but it's not nearly as good as the semantics in

the

> first etymology). C^asU on the other hand means exactly "moment,

time,

> hour".
>
> Mate

Indeed, Slavic c^asU suggests the original meaning "period of time,
space of time" (like if "cut from time"), cf. S-Croat c^as "moment,
instant, very short period of time", Russian c^as "hour", Polish
czas "time" and dialectal Polish czas "weather" (< the period when
it is sunny, the period when it is clody etc.), Czech
poc^así "weather" etc. AFAIK the meaning "weather" is also attested
in Albanian.

Slavic had another word for "flying time", namely *vertme, - cf.
Russ. vremja "time" cf. *wert- "go round" (Slavic *verteno "a
spindle"), Sanskr. vartma "way, rut, flute in the ground" and Latin
annus vertens "current year", and that word never denoted "period"
in Slavic.

Grzegorz J.