Re: Scientist's etymology vs. scientific etymology

On 2008-06-08 22:25, tgpedersen wrote:

> Actually I thought of casting the net wider and get all the "four,
> square" words on board too. No one has explained the /a/ of Latin
> quattuor...

It's a "schwa secundum", i.e. a prop vowel inserted to break up a
hard-to-pronounce cluster. Its characteristic reflexes include Lat. /a/,
Gk. /i/, OCS /I/. The pattern was m. pl. *kWetwores, n. (coll.) *kWtwo:r
--> *kW&two:r, compositional *kW(&)twr.- ~ *kW(&)tru-.

Piotr