Re: PIE-Arabic Correspondences - *gWel-

----- Original Message -----

From: Richard Wordingham

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 4:16 PM

Subject: [tied] Re: PIE-Arabic Correspondences

 

<snip>

> PIE gwel = Arabic aqlawla "to fly in the air"

Formally OK, though the semantics ('throw' = 'fly'?) feel stretched.

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"Stretched" is a rather nice understatement.

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I will now give some examples taken from Bomhard's work. The Arabic
words given are not isolated within Afroasiatic. Bomhard gives the
following examples of PIE *gHW corresponding to Arabic /q/ and assumed
to be reflexes of Nostratic *kW' (spellings normalised):

PIE *gWah2dH 'submerge, press in' = Arabic _qah.ama_ 'drag in, cram
in', _qah.a.t.a_ 'beat violently', _qah.afa_ 'beat on head', _qah.aza_
'cudgel'.

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In my opinion, the semantics are clearly not even similar. I do not know what dictionary Bomhard was using but I see no _qah.at.a_ 'beat violently'.

I wonder why. . .

By my system of correspondences, *gWa(:)dh- should corresponds to Arabic sh-?/h/h.-d/t. but I can see nothing promising.

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PIE *gWer 'heavy' = Arabic _waqara_ 'to load, to burden'

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Whether we find an Arabic equivalent or not, the Egyptian equivalent is transparently sh3w, 'weight', is *gWer-ú-s, 'heavy', confirming my hypothesis of PIE *gW = Egyptian sh/X.

I am using sh for esh.

Even if waqara were one of those funny roots where wa- has been added to qara, I would be reluctant to use it because once Pandora's box has been opened, a rat will qualify as a non-tree-climbing squirrel for dinner.

In any case, the root idea seems to be 'bestow on' without regard to weight or value.

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With dissimilatory 'deglottalisation' , to meet a root constraint, we
get PIE *kW instead:

PIE *kWed 'to smoke, to fume' (Satem only, so Pokorny *ked) = Arabic
_miqt.ar_ 'censer', _qut.(u)r_ 'agalloch, aloeswood'. (The earlier
attested Semitic languages show the 'smoke, incense' meaning much more
clearly, e.g. Hebreq _qi:t.o:r_ 'smoke')

There is no *kWed-, 'smoke', in Pokorny that I can find; and no mention of satem only under *ked-. If we regard the word as having a predictably lost initial nasal element, **(n)kedW-, it matches the Arabic q-t.-

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PIE *kWed 'to sharpen, to bore' = Arabic _qat.a`a_, _qat.ama_,
_qat.ala_ 'to cut off'.

This appears to be Egyptian sh-t, 'assessment'. Arabic in shat.ara, 'divide'.

If we suppose a *(n)kedW-, 'cut', as the basis of an s-mobile form *(s)k(h)ed-, 'split off', we may have a cognate with q-t. but there are other competing roots for this connection.

Patrick

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