Re: o-grade thoughts

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@> wrote:

Piotr:

> > One possible
> > explanation is that the pattern established after the working of
> > the PIE ablaut rules was *gWHi-gWHón-h2a/*gWHé-gWHn.-me, and
> > the variation of the reduplication vowel was levelled out.
> >

Torsten:

> I think I will ask you in very clear terms and in words that are
> not difficult to understand: can you mention one single example
> of that pattern in all of PIEdom etc etc. ? No ? I thought not.
> You are not able to corroborate that theory with a single shred
> of evidence etc etc.

I think it's time to add that what convinced me which was the
behaviour of some u-verbs where there *is* evidence: Vedic babhú:va,
but Avest. buva:va (spelled <buua:uua>) indicate that the
reduplication is with -e- if the root has zero-grade, and with -u-
if the root has full grade; the variation is corroborated by Italic,
cf. Osc. fufans, Umb. fefure. Transferred to non-u-roots where the
weak reduplication has -i- not -u- in the present, one may surmise
an older stage of the perfect being precisely *gWHi-gWHón-h2a/*gWHé-
gWHn.-, meaning that the constant -e- we find will have to be
explained as a secondary generalization.

Jens