Abdullah Konushevci wrote:
> Why not we assume that much more straightforward and most likely source
> is *preu-k 'to hop' (cf. *reug- 'cloud' > Alb. <re>) with compensatory
> lengthening of dropped velar. Further more, they belong to same
> paradigm: undf. pre, def. pre-ja; undf. re, def. re-ja.
(1) Its Latin origin is likely because reflexes of <praeda> with the
same meaning are found throughout the Romance offspring of Latin.
Formally and semantically, the connection is unassailable, and as for
its historical plausibility, the partial relexification of
Proto-Albanian vocabulary with Latin words is no secret.
(2) The *preuk- etymology doesn't work formally, since the final *k
would have either stayed or else dissapeared in pre-Albanian times
without any compensatory effects (in the unlikely case of the noun being
athematic). The derivation of <re> (<rê>) from *reug- (or *h1regW-, see
Demiraj) works only if we start with a form with a nasal suffix (like
Gk. eremnós), giving PAlb. *reN, so despite having a similar declension
it isn't a parallel case.
Piotr