--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" <alexandru_mg3@...>
wrote:
>
> > We also have here 'a strange similarity' with the 'brother'-root
> > something like : "ba-tr" => "bra-tr" (or vice-versa)
>
>
> I remember that once, Piotr requested a discussion on the original
> meanings of PIE terms like 'father' 'mother' 'brother' 'sister'
> etc...
Well "p" (with variants in vocalism) is a nursery word so it's
presence hardly needs explaining. But I'll go out on a limb here and
trace it back to a PPIE **?ap, where *? is a non-phonemic glottal
stop. I would trace the suffix back to **h2tir. I don't know the
ultimate origin of that but it's used not just for agents but also
family relations. It may be a combination of two suffixes **h2t and
**ir. The **h2t suffix may be present in *nepo:t, while the **ir
suffix is found in *swesor. In any case according to my own sound law
for PPIE we'd have **?aph2tir > *ph2ter.
The word for mother also contains a nursery word. In PPE it would be
**me. With the above suffix this becomes *meh2ter.