Re: IS PIE * DERU EXCLUSIVELY INDO-EUROPEAN ?

In my opinion, the changes you attribute to a possible *d-prefix are better
explained as the result of phonological processes.

/n/ is the apical nasal corresponding to the voiced apical stop /d/.

Denasalize /n/, perhaps for dissimilation, and you get /d/.

Denasalize an alveolar /n/, and you are liable to get an /l/.

Egyptian is a notable case where <n> corresponds to either /n/ or /l/ in
related languages.

There are absolutely no infixes in PIE. The one reputed example is the
suffix -*nV, which, in certain cases, is metathesized to a position before
the final consonant of the root.

Any word that shows an initial vowel in PIE must be reconstructed with a
preceding laryngal: *H. If there is a true variation between initial *kV and
*ØV, it may be a case of a dialectal hardening of the laryngal, namely /h/.

In other cases, we simply coincidentally have words of _similar_ meanings
beginning with *d- and *n-.

For prefix status, I should have added that we be able to isolate the
meaning of the prefix: any ideas or what these purported prefixes mean?

A seeming prefix in almost unlimited use is s-mobile. In my opinion, it is
the first element of a _compound consisting_ of *s(u)-, 'well', and gives
the root an emphatic of perfective aspect. I hypothesize that this is the
probable meaning of *s(u) though, by its nature, it is devilishly difficult
to conclusively demonstrate.


Patrick

----- Original Message -----
From: "etherman23" <etherman23@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] IS PIE * DERU EXCLUSIVELY INDO-EUROPEAN ?


--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:
>
> To assert a *d-prefix for PIE, the minimum requirement would be to
show the existence of other *C-prefixes. It is hardly possible that
PIE had this category of modification for just one morpheme.

That was the argument against s-mobile being a prefix. So perhaps both
*s and *d were prefixes. A d-prefix might also explain the word
initial pt found in Greek where other languages point to p (first with
devoicing of d- and then metathesis). Also in Greek there are
z-initial words where one would expect an initial y-. In Greek dy > z.
There are several examples of words where we expect an initial nasal,
but find initial d instead. For example, PIE had *(e)noh1men yet
Hittite has a reflex atiman. PIE has *nebHos yet we have Luwian
tapas^a and Lithuanian debesis. Then there's the famous Slavic devyni
meaning nine though we'd expect it to have an initial nasal. All these
could be explained with a *d-prefix that causes the loss of an initial
nasal. PIE also has some *k/0 alternations (perhaps a *k prefix), *w/0
alternations (a *w prefix or infix), and *y/0 alternations (a *y
prefix or infix). There are also some variations involving initial *l
suggesting an *l prefix. For example, PIE *(d)ak^ru but Latin lacrima
and PIE *(e)noh1men Hittie lamen.