On 2006-09-21 21:23, tgpedersen wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>> Here's a thought experiment: root *k(^)eht- 'cover, shelter' (with any
>> of the three laryngeals). The thematic O-derivatives *koht-ó-s and
>> *koht-áh2 account for Gmc. *xo:ðaz and *xo:ðo:. Nil-grade derivatives
>> are represented by *k&t-tí-s > Lat. cassis, *k&t-inó- > OE heden, OIc.
>> heðinn, and *k&t-nó- > Gmc. *xatta- ~ *xattu-.
>
> That's a possibility. Would hu:s, cot, Est. kodu "home" fit in
> there?
The 'house' word is plausibly assigned to the etymon of PIE *(s)keuh1t-
'cover' (widespread, with the equally common variant *(s)keut-; the two
are often found alongside each other in the same branch) as *kuh1t-to-s
> *xu:ssaz > *hu:saz. Gmc. *kutta- (n.) 'cottage' looks like something
ultimately related but borrowed from a non-Germanic IE source. I think
such a solution is more plausible than Pokorny's forced derivation of
*kutta- from *geu-d-, especially in view of the striking parallel case
of Lat. cunnus < *kut-nó- and Germanic *kunto:n/*-tt- 'you-know-what'.
If you want something that does look like a bunch of related substratal
words, here they are. If something like *kutnó- was borrowed between GL1
and GL2, when PGmc. had no voiceless stops, it may have been adapted as
*gudná- (with the metathetic variant *gundá-), eventually yielding all
those strange reflexes. I don't want to speculate if FU *kota 'house'
(cf. Hung. ház, Khanty xot) is related to any of the words mentioned so
far; at any rate, words with this meaning make good Wanderwörter. Note
also Slavic *kotU, *kotIcI (a diminutive in *-iko-) 'cage, pen' and OE
heaþor 'confinement' (*k&t-ró-?).
Piotr