[tied] Re: Indo-Iranian *H2rtá- (was Sanskrit Rta)

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

>
> A. wrote:
>
> >>Well beyond the fact that 'arete' is based on the same
> >>_root_ as 'rta-', I don't know its exact etymology, and
> >>so whether it involves the same suffix as 'rta-' or not.
> >>It does seem to me that it might, but hopefully somebody
> >>on the list better informed about Greek can tell us for
> >>sure.
> >
> >
> > Anyone?
> > Bueller??
> > Bueller??
> > Anyone?
>
> Yoo-hoo, the cavalry are coming! I hope it isn't too late.
>
> I'm not absolutely sure how to analyse <areté:> 'goodness,

excellence', but it can't be separated from <aresko:> 'satisfy,
please', so I assume that they both derive from the stative stem *h2
(a)r-(e)h1- 'be all right', corresponding to the hypothetical *es-
stem noun *h2ar-os/-es- '(state of) order'. The expected adjectival
derivative would be *h2ar-eto-, hence <arete:> as a feminine
substantivisation.

> Cf. Gk. genete: '(the time of) birth' (vs. <genos>), Lat. Genita

Ma:na (the name of a goddess) < *g^enh1-etah2.

>
> Piotr

Piotr,

Thank you for the rescue LOL
So if Arete derives from PIE *h2ar-os/-es- then it certainly is not
from *H2rtó- .... thus this sense of "moral rightness" is not based
specifically upon *H2rtó- but rather as David seemed to suggest, all
these various meanings all stem from the root essence of *H2ar-

Therefore I really can stop obsessing over *H2rtó- and *H2rtá- !

Sincerely,
Aydan