> Can anyone on this list tell me what PIE root might lie behind
Albanian
> vras, I kill?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>
> Patrick
The closer cognate that I could found is the Skt. rav 'to break;
to hurt' (see also Skt. ravitar 'injurer')
From the PIE *Hreu(H) - maybe even *h3reu(H) (see at Lubotsky on
Leiden) 'to tear up, to damage'
The PAlb(Dacian?) form was in this case *wa-rau-tja
a) If so, the initial v in vras is the intensive-privative prefix v
(ë)- (for another apparition of this prefix see also Alb. vrap '
running, race' (see at Demiraj on Leiden)
b) On the other hand, -tj(a) represents a productive class of
verbs in PAlb (Dacian?)
Usually stems in -tj(a) function as causatives (see also ngas <
PAlb *en-ga-tja 'to urge, to incite' where Alb ngaj means only 'to
run')
Best Regards,
Marius
P.S. Maybe in this case (sorry Miguel but 'there is a chance here :)
so I'm obliged to use it') Romanian rãu 'bad' with an original
meaning 'that one that cause a damage' so 'bad man' (see DEX
meaning:
http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=rau&source=
"[...]
1. (Adesea substantivat) Care face, în mod obişnuit, neplăceri
altora.
eng.
1. (very often subst.) that cause, in an usual way, damages/
unpleasant things to other persons."
currently considered from Latin reus '1.part in a process 2.
culprit, the accused' => but in my opinion a juridical semantism is
less probable (but of course not impossible) to arrive to be the
source for such a general term as 'bad')
could be also considered coming from the Romanian-Substratum based
on:
Rom rãu 'bad' < PAlb(Dacian?) *rau 'that one that cause a damage,
bad man,(even) killer' <-> Alb vras < PAlb *wa-rau-tja 'to kill'
It make sense isn't it? If *rau (see Rom. rãu 'bad') in *wa-rau-tja
means as verb 'to tear up, to damage' and *wa is an intensive
privative prefix and finally -tja is used to construct a causative
action: the final meaning is not by accident 'to kill'.