Re[2]: [tied] Latin /a/ after labials, IE *mori

At 12:34:25 AM on Sunday, January 14, 2007, Rick McCallister
wrote:

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

[...]

>> I'd like to point out that the Old Irish word for sea,
>> <muir>, has the form <mara> in the genitive singular and
>> nominative plural, [...]

> Check with a Celtic scholar and definitely correct me but
> Irish mara would have a "broad" m, associated with velar
> pronunciation (as opposed to palatal) while the difference
> of pronunciation of muir would mainly be the palatalized r

According to Thurneysen, OIr <muir> is a neuter i-stem, with
nom./voc./dat./acc. sing. <muir>, gen. sing. <moro> ~
<mora>, nom./acc. pl. <muir>; nom. pl. <mara> is a later
form. It must be from PCelt. *mori- (and indeed I find that
this is what Matasovic gives).

Brian