Re: Res: [tied] Reindeer domestication : two orig ins

On 2008-12-19 12:40, tgpedersen wrote:

> Why so few? Why so many a's?
> And a good deal of them seem to be NWEurope or Germanic only.

Few? There are _a good_ few, with some more material mentioned in
passim, though not discussed in separate sections. Since the book deals
only with Gmc. words, no wonder that some of the are areally restricted.
Quite number of them, though, are widely distributed IE words with
impeccable PIE etymologies. Why so many a's? Well, perhaps because most
of them reflect PIE *o > PGmc. *a.

> There are only two s-neuters on the list beside *xrinþaz-, one is
> *kelþaz, of which *kendaz might be suspected of being a variant,
> although I can't see what kind of root *k- would represent.

*gel- 'curl up' (vel sim., see Pokorny), hence some words for 'fetus'
(--> child) and related meanings (Goth. kilþei 'womb', Skt. jartu- 'vulva').

Piotr