On 2008-02-11 23:06, Patrick Ryan wrote:
> In the word *la:u-, 'booty', would you judge the vowel underlyingly long?
There are some problems with both *la(:)u- and *lah2u- //leh2w-//. Skt.
lotra- probably doesn't belong here at all, as it may be a mere byform
of <loptra-> (with the same meaning) < *leup-tro-, cf. Slavic *lupU
'loot, booty' < *loup-o-, *lupiti 'plunder' < *loup-eje/o-. To make
matters worse, the Skt. roots {lup-} and {rup-} represent the merger of
PIE (?) *leup- 'rob, steal' and *reup- 'break off, harm' (Lat. rumpo:,
OE re:ofan), so <loptra> might reflect *reup-tro- as well. Pokorny's
entry for "*la:u-" is clearly in need of thorough revision; it may be an
artificial collection of forms belonging to different etyma.
Piotr