From: Patrick Ryan
Message: 57047
Date: 2008-04-08
----- Original Message -----
From: "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 4:19 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] RE: Priimary Stem Formants: =*H, -*i/y, *-u/w
> Patrick Ryan pisze:
>
> > Again, absolutely right.
> >
> > But I think that the process often leads to overcomplication.
> >
> > I must say, you really know how to select out the most problematical
> > examples.
> >
> > Your analysis above is greatly appreciated. It firmed up some things in
> > my
> > mind. I see the ultimate *CVC root as *HAyA-, 'wet', to which -*wA was
> > added -> *Hyéw- -> *yéu- = 'wetted all over', referring to the state at
> > birth.
>
> The funny thing about etymology is that it turns words into fractals. As
> long as you manage to "magnify" them, you see more and more internal
> complexity rather than the final Lego blocks. For example, <young> [jVN]
> doesn't decompose into CV-type "proto-words" but rather into roots of
> the same order of surface complexity as <young> itself. The first
> element of the compound, *h2ju-, is the zero grade of the neuter noun
> *h2oju/*h2aju- 'vital force' (triconsonantal), the second is the
> Hoffmann suffix (originally perhaps a root noun, possibly also
> triconsonantal). Only the adjectival suffix *-k^o- is simpler, but who
> knows what it was "originally". My microscope can't blow it up any
> further.
>
> Piotr
***
That is an astute conjecture and my case here is especially weak inside PIE.
*Hyéw- is the only word in which I can find traces of my hypothetical
*Ha(:)y- so I can hardly insist, can I?
But just so you know I was really irresponsible enough to base my analysis
on this word alone, there are indications elsewhere of *Ha(:)y-, 'wet'.
As for -*k^o, it can only be diminutive -*ko palatalized by something in the
vicinity.
Patrick