Re: [tied] Latin tardus

--- Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

> I consulted one IE source to see if I could find
> any cases of IE *e > /a/ in Celtic. I found the
> following possibilities, but they are just
> possibilities, and they are rather few, admit of
> other etymologies, and come from a now-disreputable
> source (Stuart Mann's "Indo-European Dictionary").
> However, they are what I based my memory of *e > /a/
> in Celtic on:

Some of these etymologies are uncertain or wrong.
For example:

> Irish <maige> "great", Greek <megas>

are from *mag- and *meg^-h2-, though it's easy to see
how they could be thought to come from one source.

Others are cases of vowel assimilation.

> Irish <tarathar>, Welsh <taradr> "borer, drill",
> Lat. <terebrum/terebra>

*teratar- > *taratar-

so e-a > a-a in many examples.

Many new a's come from syllabic consonants:

> Welsh <carw> "stag", Latin <cervus>

"horn" words like srva:- in Avestan and sirwis in
OPrussian show syllabic r.

> OIr <samail> "like", Latin <similis>

this might be a compound like *sm-mh1- "one
appearance?"

> Irish <gabhaim> "seize, hold, receive", Gmc *geban

Not every case of *K changes e>a in every language.
If these are from *ghebh- the e/a isn't a problem.

> Welsh <ta:n> "fire" (Irish <te:in>), Avestan
> <tafno:> "heat" (IE *tepn-)

I looked this up and found OIr tene, Ir teine.
Without any other good cases of *epn- the Welsh is
probably regular.

Other cases of *e>a can occurr because *ew>*ow in
Celtic; *o>a when unstressed or some dissimilation
before w/u.

In Welsh *g>*G can cause *e>a

wegYhnos
wegna
weGna
waGna
waina
wain

*kom-wain > cywain (as OIr fe:n "wagon")



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