--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:
> Francesco... I am going to correct the numerous misrepresentations
> about me in your posting above.
>
> As for the guilty word, PL *HHA-RA, 'water-color', 'pale/white',
> as YOU pointed out Bomhard identified it for PA as *hhar-
> 'white', I guess he does not see that the primary meaning
> was 'pale'; and HE connects it with PIE *ar-.
Bomhard's Proto-Afroasiatic root **Har-/*H@... is given the
meaning 'to be superior, to be higher in status or rank, to be above
or over', *not* the meaning 'white'! Read again his entry for Proto-
Nostratic *Har-/*H@... at
http://tinyurl.com/252gt5
> Even Orel & Stolbova have it as HS (PA) root #1241, *hhar-, 'sky'.
The sky is not white. But it can be identified with the idea
of 'superiority, being higher, being above' (see Bomhard, above).
> So it is not true that I did not point out the obvious
> connections; the only connection I did not point out was
> Proto-Language *HHA-RA, from which I believe Nostratic *hhar-
> is derived.
This is the point! Proto-Language *HHA-RA, lit. 'water-(foam)color'
(i.e. 'pale/white') is an ARTIFICIAL CONSTRUCT OF YOUR OWN built on
two supposed (by yourself only) "Proto-Language monosyllabes":
1) *HHA = water current ('what moves himself underneath'), lake,
move in place, be agitated, flow, shine/y, reflective, bluish-white,
deep;
2) *RA = a formant which was used for color terms.
The fact is, that you don't arrive at this root via a legitimate
linguistic reconstruction. The proof of what I am saying is that you
are forced to disagree with the completely different meaning
assigned by Bomhard to a phonetically similar Proto-Nostratic root,
*Har-/*H@..., whose reconstruction, unlike that of your *HAR_RA, is
at least based on a pair of (more or less legitimate) reconstructed
Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic roots. Yet Bomhard starts
from existing words and meanings, while you start from an invention.
This being the state of things, why should we accept your
fanciful 'white/pale' meaning, which isn't vouched by any existing
word in Nostratic?
Regards,
Francesco