Re: From here to eternity [was: *y-n,W- "subordinate"?]

 

 

 

 

> Ok
> then let us rephrase the situation this way :
>

They had two words "mortal" (for themselves) and "immortal" (for gods)

>

They lived very short lifes

> for that reason the word "life" could not

become "eternity"

> because "eternity" is precisely an attribute of the

gods,

> who they were not.
>
> Is that clearer this way

?

I think it's this way:
*ayw- meant "time period"
*ne ... ayw- meant "not in [any] time period", ie. "not ever"
therefore *ayw- came to mean also "ever".
Cf. the double meaning of some of the X in the French 'ne...X'
constructions.

Torsten