--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Arnaud Fournet" <fournet.arnaud@...>
wrote:
> Mordovian: uzÌerÌ (E M), vizÌirÌ (E) 'Axt'
> This is even worse.
> I cannot see how *vaz(^)ra could possibly become vizir ??
To expand on Francesco's quoting of Adams, we have Pali _vajira_
'diamond'. In the other direction, we have instances of /a/ being
fronted and raised to /e/ before palatals in Indic loans in Siamese -
Sanskrit _vajra_ > Thai _phet_H_ 'diamond, jewel' and _pañca_ > _ben_M
ca_L_ 'five-'. (H, M and L denote the Siamese tones.) I suspect
these words were loaned to Siamese via Khmer, but the only evidence I
have is the Khmer shift of pre-vocalic p- to implosive b-.
Richard.