On 2008-12-16 02:17, stlatos wrote:
> If you believe that,
I don't _believe_ anything here. I'm experimenting. The horn/cornu word
and the *k^erh2- set are notoriously difficult to relate, so I'm willing
to consider the possibility that they are two different words (with some
secondary convergence) or at best two different extensions of a pre-PIE
root (perhaps 'horn' as material, vs. 'a head (of horns/antlers)'?). I
find *k^ren- easier to work with than *k^ern-, though of course I can be
completely wrong. We all are, most of the time.
> how would you explain Breton cern 'top (of
> head/hill)'? There's also Cernunnos '*horned god' which should be old
> enough for meaningful comparison.
The Celtic situation is complex. *k^erh2wo- became *karawo- and one
possible development of *k^r.no- was *karno-, with a neo-weak grade.
Then we have similar words for 'rock, outcrop' and 'hoof', which could
have undergone formal convergence with the 'horn' family by popular
etymology. A Saussurean o-grade *korno- < *k^or[h2-w]-no- may be lurking
there as well. I don't know how to analyse all of these words yet.
Piotr