Re: Northwest *kVl-

From: tgpedersen
Message: 59426
Date: 2008-06-29

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> At 7:42:05 PM on Saturday, June 28, 2008, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Pokorny:
> > '1. kel-, kel&- "ragen, hoch (heben)"; kl.n-is "Hügel".
>
> [...]
>
> > mir. coll "Haupt, Führer" (*kolnos);
>
> I suppose that this is the DIL's third <coll> entry (after
> the expected 'hazel' and 'destruction', glossed 'expld. as
> neck, jaw, head'?

I don't have the DIL at hand, so I can't identify the word by its
placement in the DIL. Ernout-Meillet has 'collum ... irl. coll ? ...'
with no explanation of the question mark.
>
> [...]
>
> > kWekWlo-, kWokWlo- (?) "Rad" in:
> > ai. cakrá- m. n. (Akzent sekundär) "Wagenrad, Scheibe, Kreis",
> > av. c^axra- m. "Rad",
> > gr. kúklos "Kreis", Pl. kúkloi und kúkla "Räder",
> > aisl. hjo:l, hve:l (*kWékWelon-, germ. *hwéh(w)ula-) n.,
> > ags. hwe:ol (engl. wheel), daneben hweowol, hweogol (germ.
> > *hweg(w)ulá-),
>
> Ringe: OIc <hvél> and OE <hwe:ol> from PGmc *hWehWlaz < PIE
> *kWékWlos, but OIc <hjól> and OE <hweowol> from PGmc
> *hWeula- < PIE *kWekWléh2 (collective).
>

Given Gk. kúklos, pl. kúkloi and kúkla
(?< PPIE *kúklos, *kúkloi, *kuklá
> *kúklos, *kúkloi, *kWklá
> PIE kWéklos, *kWékloi, *kWeklá;
PIE *kWekWlá would mean Sanskr. stress in cakrá- isn't secondary),
that makes sense.


The distribution doesn't.
I don't know how to make sense of it.
Because of the widespread presence in Africa, the word must be old
there. But if we imagine the words spread by some Berber vel sim.
speaking people, how then explain the IIr ocurrences?

Since the words are so intertangled phonetically, we'll have to rely
on semantics to figure out the historical sequence.
I think "turn" > "something roundish" > "pot" > "head" > "top" makes
most sense.


Torsten