Re: [tied] Re: Of cows and living

On 2006-02-21 14:36, stlatos wrote:

> 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)

The gloss is wrong. Lat. mulceo: means 'stroke, touch lightly, caress,
soothe'. If you've ever milked a cow, you'll know that's not the way to
draw milk. I don't exclude some very deep etymological connection
between <mulceo:> and <mulgeo:>, but etymologies proposed with recourse
to arbitrary "root extensions" are inherently weak.

Piotr