From: Joao S. Lopes
Message: 62079
Date: 2008-12-15
On 2008-12-15 21:32, Joao S. Lopes wrote:
>
>
> krios "ram"
> hrinthar- "cow"
> s^r.nga "horn"
> xerut- "deer, stag"
> kerambos, terambos "stagbeetle"
>
> Are they independent developments from same root k^erh- "head, horn", or
> may represent diverse PIE names from horned beasts?
Some of them can't be derived from *k^erh2-. It seems that
*k^erh2(-ser/ n-) means basically 'head', while most 'horn(ed)' words are
derived from *k^erh2w- (cervus, *xerut-, Slavic *korva 'cow', etc.),
*k^ren- (Slavic *sIrna 'roe-deer', s'r.Nga-, perhaps Rind) and possibly
*k^rei- (*xraina-, krios). As an intriguing complication, stagbeetles
and hornets seem to have names derived from 'head' rather than 'horn'
(*k^erh2-... , *k^r.h2-sr-e: n). We seem to be dealing with an ancient set
of related roots with various pre-PIE "extensions" , no longer analysable
in the protolanguage. *k^ren- and *k^rei- are vocalised differently from
*k^erh2-, since PIE did not allow two sonorants at the end of a root.
Piotr