On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:47:46 -0800 (PST), Rick McCallister
<
gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
>I've read that Armenian /h-/ is a relic of laryngeals
>but that it's not consistent. Can anyone elaborate?
See Olsen, p. 765ff.
There are a number of words which reflect a PIE laryngeal
(whether h1, h2 or h3) as h-. The examples given are:
*h1er&2s- > heR "strife, spite"
*h2ais-sk^e- > hayc`em "ask, seek"
*h2ano- > han "grandmother"
*h2auh2os > haw "grandfather"
*h2on(&1)mo- > hoLm "wind"
*h3odos > hot "smell"
*h2n.k^- > asanem "reach"
On the other hand, we also have:
*h1er&2sah2-ye- > eRam "err"
*h2ais-sk^- > ayc` "investigation"
*h2ar&3tro- > arawr "plough"
*h2ork(s)mo- > orm "wall"
etc.
Despite several attempts to explain the distribution (for
instance by Kortlandt), Olsen concludes that the matter
remains unresolved, as is equally the case with the reflexes
of initial *p- and *s- (which also give either h- or zero,
apparently at random).
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
miguelc@...