Re: [tied] PIE athematic neuters: *me:n-, 'moon'

----- Original Message -----

From: Patrick Ryan

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 3:31 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] PIE athematic neuters

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Miguel Carrasquer

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2006 6:53 PM

Subject: Re: [tied] PIE athematic neuters

 

<snip>

 

  The standard example is
*méh1no:ts, *m(e)h1nésos "moon, month", which I would derive
from **mát-nu:t-s, *mat-nút-a:s (> *m@...:s > *m@...
> *meh1nésos).  When the *u stands at the beginning of a
morpheme, it goes to *we/*u instead of *e, as in the pf.
ptc., say *wéid-wo:t-s, *wid-ús-os.

<snip>

 

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Patrick:

 

Quite aside from the highly improbable transformation of pN *t into PIE *H1, there is the question of the possible linkage of *me:n-, 'moon', with *m-e-t-, 'measure', which Miguel assumes, apparently. 

 

From pre-Nostratic to PIE is quite a jump, and perhaps it might have been instructive to linger, at least, briefly at Nostratic in general, and Egyptian in particular.

 

Egyptian mn (I prefer *mjn) is primarily the Egyptian moon-god although the prevalent syncretism of Egypt eventually connected him with many other functions. I assert that Egyptian *mjn is cognate with PIE *me:n-. His regular epithet: 'he who raises his arm in the east' is a reference to the waning crescent of the moon. Notice: there is no coronal in this word.

 

The Egyptian cognate of PIE *m-e-t- is in mt.y, 'precise, exact'. Notice: there is no nasal in this word.

 

 Miguel's false transformation is based on two words that have only initial *m- in common.

 

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