On 2006-08-02 10:36, tgpedersen wrote:
> *peikõ
> *peic^et
>
> ->
>
> *pis^u
> *piset
>
> which is not quite Russian, since the
> 3rd sg there is pis^et. But the "second
> stem", that of inf. and pret. is pisa-
> with an /s/, so I assume the /s^/ of
> 3rd sg etc is analogous?
>
> Please object.
If you insist...
The s ~ s^ alternation in Slavic (as in Russ. pisát' 'to write' :
pís^et) results from the fact thet the verbs in this conjugation had
present stems in *-je/o-, and *-sj- yields Slavic /s^/ whatever the
origin of the *s. We have exactly the same alternation in roots ending
in inherited PIE *s, e.g. Russ. c^esát' 'to comb' : c^és^et (PIE *kes-).
The 'cook' root was conjugated differently, like Skt. pácati <
*pékW-e-ti (the simple thematic type). Here the PSl. infinitive was
*pek-ti > OCS pes^ti, Russ. pec^, Pol. piec, and the present was 1sg.
*pek-oN, 3.sg. *pec^-etI (Russ. pekú, pec^ët). Of course there were also
roots ending in *k(W) that formed *-je/o- present stems. In those cases
we have infinitives ending in *-k-ati with presents that have *c^ <
*-k(W)j- across the paradigm, e.g. Russ. plákat' 'weep' : plác^u, plác^et.
Piotr