--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> Note that PIE *h2melg^- is a verb root, perhaps with the original
> meaning of 'rub, press, squeeze out' (hence 'to milk'), cf. Skt.
> má:rs.t.i. The verbs based on it (e.g. Gk. amelg-o:, Slavic *melz-ti)
> are primary, not denominative, which shows that the Germanic noun
itself
> is deverbative ('the product of milking', cf. Slavic [inherited!]
> *melzivo 'colostrum, the first milk after calving').
Why not root *h2mel- with *h2mel-g^-; *h2mel-k^-; *h2mel-d- (stroke,
milk; stroke, milk; stroke, rub, soft(en))?
*h2mel-k^- Lat. mulce:re (milk)
*h2ml-d-ú- Gk. amaldu:no: (soften), bladús; Lat. mollis; Skt. mr.dú-
(soft)
These should be distinguished from *mel- (destroy, grind) which
might also come to mean soften in some forms or be confused with
*h2mel- as h>0 etc.
The words for "melt" could come from either if there is confusion
but are probably from "destroy" (as Greek meldo: (I melt)).
Note that these are not exactly how I would reconstruct them (I'm
just staying close to standard theory in this description).