Re: *a/*a: ablaut

From: fournet.arnaud
Message: 52869
Date: 2008-02-12

Attachments :
> What about words like sacer-dos
> where dhoH1 "doer" is primary -o-

What do you understand by "primary -o-"? Even if <sacerdo:s> contained
*dHoh1-, the fundamental form of the corresponding verb would still be
*dHeh1-. But the analysis is unlikely, as the compositional form of
'doer/maker' in Latin is -fex. <sacerdo:s> is more plausibly
*sakro-doh3-t-s 'the giver of the sacred'.

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ok
"primary" may be circular.

I meant it is basically /o/
not something else.

As for sacerdo:s
Watkins is ok with *dh_H1
To sanctify. 1. Suffixed form *sak-ro-. a. sacred, sacristan, sexton;
consecrate, execrate, from Latin sacer, holy, sacred, dedicated; b. compound
*sakro-dht-, "performer of sacred rites" (*-dht-, doer; see dh-).
sacerdotal, from Latin sacerds, priest. 2. Nasalized form *sa-n-k-. saint,
sanctum; corposant, sacrosanct, sanctify, from Latin sancre (past participle
snctus), to make sacred, consecrate. (Pokorny sak- 878.)

But I will not hide myself
behind somebody else
Be he Watkins.

Your opinion "more plausibly", "unlikely" "would be"
You are not proving anything
but expressing your own subjectivity.

Arnaud
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> or phôs "light" < *bhoH2-
> monosyllabic word with nothing to influence
> the vowel.

Well, it belongs to a class of monosyllabic root nouns with *o in the
strong cases. Synchronically in PIE, it's morphology that determines the
choice of the vowel in this case (whatever the historical explanation).
The point is that the *o of, say, *po:d-s, acc. *pod-m., pl. *pod-es is
morphophonologically related to *e in gen. *ped(o)s or in derivatives
like *ped-o-m 'standing-place'. It isn't an independent vowel.
==============

What about Greek words :
bous "cattle" < *gwow
lô "will" < *wloH1
ops "voice" < *wokw
proks "deer" < *prok- "speckled"

Arnaud
================

> or pot-(ere) "to be able"

There is no "potere" in Latin, only <possum> (< potis sum) and <potior>
(<poti:ri:>). It's true that the *o of *potis looks apophonically
stable, but such examples are vanishingly rare and it's possible that
the absence of *pet- is an accidental attestation gap due to the early
generalisation of strong vocalism.
Piotr

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"once a phoneme, always a phoneme"
*vanishingly* rare is subjective.

I am still waiting for a clear case of *CaC-vowel
constrasting with *CeC-vowel or *CoC-vowel.

Arnaud

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