On 2008-03-16 10:02, fournet.arnaud wrote:
> There is not a single instance of
> either *peH-ter or *poH-ter
>
> I think the root is p°-ter.
> No laryngeal.
> It's -ter morpheme stuck on
> baby word papa.
The "baby word papa" seems to occur in languages that already have a
reflex of *p&2te:r (the most popular hypocoristic 'father' word in IE
being something like *ata- ~ *tata-. I wouldn't exclude the possibility
that papa- (and, who knows, perhaps (t)ata- as well) are themselves
baby-talk versions of *p&2té:r, which has a straightforward etymology as
an agent noun derived from *pah2- 'protect, nourish' ('protector' -->
head of the household, hence the extended use of the term as in <pater
familia:s, pater patriae>). The hysterokinetic accent/ablaut pattern is
as in Gk. doté:r 'giver' < *d&3-té:r.
Piotr