Re: Convergence in the formation of IE subgroups

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...>
wrote:

>
> At 3:43:18 AM on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> >> I hope Piotr will correct me if my premise is wrong, but
> >> wasn't "hound" attested much earlier, and much more
> >> frequently in Old English? If so, the two situations are
> >> not comparable.
>
> > But if there had been no records of Old English, and
> > that's not an unthinkable situation, Trask's method would
> > have forced us to disregard 'hound'.
>
> No, it wouldn't: Goth. <hunds>, OSax. <hund>, OHG <hunt>, ON
> <hundr>. There's nothing remotely comparable for <dog>.
>

Alright, alright then: if there had been no records of Old English,
and if no other Germanic language had existed, then etc. This is not
the situation for English, of course, but there's no telling whether
it's the situation for Basque.


Torsten