[tied] Re: IE thematic presents and the origin of their thematic vo

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

> Rob wrote:
>
> > Yet I thought long vowels were not subject to laryngeal "coloring",
> > so we should expect *pe:sto:r here. Of course, that is exactly
> > what we don't see.
> >
> > On another note, I do agree that *pex- 'protect' seems to be a root
> > durative and so would form a sigmatic aorist *pe:xs-.
>
> Note the chronology of sound changes:
>
> pre-PIE *pe:h2-s-tér- >
> *peh2-s-tér- (pretonic shortening) >
> *péh2-s-t(o)r- (stress shift and associated changes) >
> *páh2-s-t(o)r- (colouring by *h2 in PIE)

I was under the impression that sigmatic lengthening was a late
phenomenon in IE. Thus my chronology would be:

*pax-s-tár- >
*p@... (atonic reduction) >
*p@... (qualitative Ablaut) >
*pa-s-tér- (laryngeal reduction)

Of course, that is not what we see. The solution, then, is that this
form was replaced by the more recent formation in *CáC-tar- > *CéC-tor-
: *páx-s-tar- > *péx-s-tor- > *pa:-s-tor-.

- Rob