Re: [tied] -phóros, -phorós, -fer

> > > The noun -fer is athematic.
> >
> > Um... Not _Latin_ -fer. It's as thematic as Gk. -pHóros. Latin

has

> a
> > rule which deletes the ending -us after -r- (as in <puer>). It's
> m.
> > fru:gi-fer (pl. fru:gi-feri:), f. fru:gi-fera, n. fru:gi-ferum
> > 'fruit-bearing'.
>
> My ears are red.
>
>
> > > So it was once N *bhér-&s (or
> > > *´-bh&r-s), G *bh&r-ós.
> > >
> > > The noun -fer (etc) does not occur outside of compounds.
> >
> > So far you haven't shown that a root noun like *bHer- occurs in
> compounds!
>
> Hm. I will now declare it did, by fiat. I think it should be

there.

> The adjective has to come from somewhere.
>

Now it finally dawned on me what I meant. -ceps, -cipis; -fex,
-ficis are 3rd declension, and root nouns, thus athematic, and occur
only in compounds. So the type does exist.