--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Partly out of habit, linguists are focusing on the Grimm shift. In
the
> much discussed loans from Germanic into Baltic Finnic and Saami (if
> that's what they are) the Germanic side of the pair is always
written
> as if the Grimm shift had taken place, even though the shifted stops
> then corresponds to non-shifted stops in Baltic Finnic and Saami
(eg.
> Gmc *hanso: <-> Finn. kansa); the assumption is that Germanic was
> still at the x- stage in *k- > *x- > *h-, or even the *k stage,
except
> that is never written in the equations. The problem is that if we
take
> away Grimm, there's not much Germanicness about the word (*o > *a
> happened in Slavic too).
> Torsten
>
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The problem with borrowings in Finnic is of course that they may
conceal Grimm's shift because of the scarcity of corresponding Finnic
phonemes. But perhaps not in all cases, the velar series
could reveal something: Where we have a series like:
1) LIEKA `tether' (<= early Pr-Gmc. le:ga:- cf. OHG LA:GA `trap,
snare, tightened rope),
2) LIEKO `windfallen tree, waterlogged/decayed treetrunk/log' (< Pr-
Gmc. le:go:- cf. old Scandinavian lág[-a-] `windfallen tree'), and
3) LAHO `decayed/rotten tree(-trunk)' (< NW-Gmc. la:go:-
The two former must be older than the third on account of the vowel
in the first syllable. The third shows the regular substitution Gmc
fricative */g/ => Finnic fricative on its way from */s^/ to /h/.
Since we know that Grimm's shift was one of the last sound laws
occurring before historic records it would be reasonable to date LAHO
very soon after Grimm since the substitution of gmc.long /a:/ with
Finnic short /a/ points to an early dating. The reason for the
shortening soon later disappeared when Finnic developed a long /a:/
(SAHA `saw' < = by the way shows the same features as LAHO). Also
the substitution of fricative */-g-/ quite soon reverted to */-k-/
again as soon as the Finnic sound had moved from velar to laryngeal
position.
It is therefore tempting to explain the phonemes /-k-/ in the two
former examples as reflexes of a plosive */-g-/ predating Grimm's
shift. Torsten is right that traditionally this has not been the
case, e.g. LÄGLOS supposes the fricative in the original. Yet,
assuming the plosive in the original would be the most economic
solution as it would give a simple explanation of the change in the
substitution rule.
A quite similar argument could be given for another phenomenon
separating so called Paleo-Germanic loans from Proto-Germanic loans.
Older borrowings like MALLAS~MALTA(-H)- `malt' and NAUTA~NAUDA-
`cattle' show a non-geminated substitute for a Proto-Germanic
voiceless plosive. Younger borrowings like NAUTTIA~NAUTI- `enjoy,
consume' and KAUPPA~KAUPA- `bargain, business, commerce; shop,
store' show a geminated substitute. Again the most economic
explanation for the older non-geminated substitute would in my view
be to assume a pre-Grimm Paleo-Germanic voiced plosive (voiced
plosives are never substituted by geminates in Finnic).
Separating loan words by these especially Grimm-sensitive criteria
would support a pattern emerging from a number of other criteria
suggesting that so called Proto-Germanic loans actually represents a
much more extensive time-depth. Criteria which point to older datings
traditionally include:
*/st-/ =>*/s-/ instead of later => */t-/
*/s-/ => */s^-/ (becoming /h-/) instead of later */s-/
*/-Tj-/ and */-Ti-/ => */-c´(c´)-/ (becoming /-ts-/ or /-s-/) instead
of later */-tj-/
There are indications also on the Finnic side of the greater age of
these borrowings, including phonologic arguments as well as arguments
of wider distribution in related languages.
Needless to say it is very difficult to establish an exact and
coherent relative chronology for the sequencing of these criteria and
their exact dating in relation to Grimm's shift. Partly such
difficulties should be expected on accout of dialectal differences.
Anyway, I have tried, using these criteria, to filter only Paleo-
Germanic loans or otherwise especially archaic Proto-Germanic loans
to my homepage
http://koti.welho.com/jschalin/ except in cases where
an earlier paleo-germanic loan is coupled by and illuminated by a
younger loan,in which case I give both.
Jouppe
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