At 3:29:09 AM on Friday, August 24, 2007, fournet.arnaud
wrote:
> I noticed some words in Celtic where the laryngeal H1
> seems to be explicitly kept as -ch-
> Irish
> a:inich panting from H2_n_H1
> arrachar rowing from r_H1
Neither of those is Irish; both are Scottish Gaelic.
The first word also occurs as <aonach>. It appears to be
kin to OIr <anál> 'act of breathing; breath', which
Matasovic derives from PCelt. *anatla: 'breath', from PIE
*h2enh1-tlo-. The <-ich> is obviously derivational and has
nothing to do with *h1.
The second word is 'rowing, steering'; if MacBain's
derivation is correct (and I have no idea whether it is or
not), the underlying root is *h3reg^-.
> Welsh
> llech stone from l_H1
It's actually 'slate'. Matasovic makes the PCelt. *flikka:
'(flat) stone', from PIE *plkeh2 'flat surface'. Evidently
the Welsh <ch> (and the final geminate in OIr <lecc>
'(sepulcral) plate, stone') reflects PCelt. *kk from PIE *k.
Brian