On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:21:03 -0500, "Patrick Ryan"
<
proto-language@...> wrote:
>Right. It is non-existent! not (so) rare.
Actually, "laryngeal hardening" is quite a wide-spread
phenomenon in Indo-European, although still not entirely
understood.
What seems clear is that the combination of laryngeal +
nominative *-s (< *-z?) led to hardening to /k/ or /g/ of
the laryngeal (whether *h1, *h2 or *h3). Quite possibly the
accent also had to fall on the preceding vowel. From the
nominative, the -k- or -g- spread to the other bcases in a
number of words and suffixes. The vowel before the
"hardened" laryngeal is sometimes lengthened, sometimes not.
Clear examples are the suffixes:
Latin -ex (*-ak-), -ax (*-a:k-) and -tri:x.
Greek -ax and -a:x (*-a(:)k- and also *-a(:)g-)
Sanskrit -aj (*-ag-), -ij (*-ig-)
Armenian -ac (*-ag-), -ak` (*-ak-)
Slavic -akU (*-a:k), -ica (*-i:k-)
All of these can be derived from *-ah2-s and *-(tr-)ih2-s
with "laryngeal hardening". Not the parallel between Latin
senex "old man" (cf. sena:tus) and Sanskrit sanaj- "old man"
(sana: "old (f. adj.)")
Individual words:
Slavic [*Hs > *ks]: bic^I "whip" < *beih1s, bric^I "razor" <
*breih1s , kljuc^I < *kleuh2s, jazykU < *(d)n.g^huh2s(?)
Armenian [*Hs > *gs > -k-]: mukn "mouse" < *muHs, jukn
"fish" < *ghdhuh2s [cf. also Old Prussian suckis]
A possiblyh related phenomenon is seen in Germanic:
[*Hw > gw > k(w)]: *kwikwaz "alive, quick" < *gwih3wos,
*taikur- < *daih2wer-, *unk- "us two" < *unh3we-, etc.
See Martinet, Olsen and Rasmussen in various puiblications.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
miguelc@...