In Attic,
we have *kwe > xx-ü-e > t-0-e
With xx being some palatal
affricate/stop
ultimately surfacing in Attic as a dental
stop.
In Coptic,
you also find some palatal affricates
ultimately surfacing as dental stops.
For example,
Hieroglyphs have tch and dj,
usually written as t and
d.
We know from Egyptian rendering of foreign
words,
that tch and dj are affricate,
but it is unclear what they were :
t : usually read [tch], used as a equivalent of samekh [ts]
in the word : soper = t p r in
Egyptian.
My personal guess : [tç] with ç as in nicht
[niçt].
d : usually read as a voiced dzh as in judge
= dzhëdzh
I think it was a glottalized [tç?].
Whatever it was,
the Egyptian word s d m "to hear" became
Coptic sôtm
with dental stop -t- being the outcome of the
affricate d
In most words, t and d are rendered
in Coptic as -t-.
My personal explanation, which is linked with
guesses [tç] and [tç?]
Phonological constrast between t and tç became
blurred with front vowels
i and e, so that t-i [t(j)i] with palatal
outburst was close to tç-i with palatal spirant.
Ultimately, tç was reinterpreted as a variant of t
and merged with t.
It is unclear whether the glottal feature of [tç?]
was lost or is just unwritten in Coptic.
(my opinion is that it is not written : -t- stands
for /t/ and /t?/
(the Coptic native reader knew what to
say)
Coptic also exhibits s and sh (my guess [ç]) being
variants in some words.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 7:28
PM
Subject: Re: [tied] *gHwer- 666 the
beast
fournet.arnaud schrieb:
>
>
> Coptic is also an
interesting place to look at,
> Although it is unfortunately fairly
obscure.
is there any similar phenomenon to
see?
Alex