On 2008-12-22 10:00, tgpedersen wrote:
> Your one example of a bona fide IE word is *staþla-/*staðla-. And even
> that's not certain.
I beg your pardon? *h2ant-i-o- and *k^onk-o- (for example) are equally
IE, according to communis opinio. I did not manage to consult the book
before Christmas, so I have to rely on my fallible memory. Schaffner
discusses several possible mechanisms responsible for the development of
Vernerian variation even in thematic nouns and adjectives. Apart from
the contrastive accentuation of collectives we have a similar contrast
between adjectives, usually with a suffixal accent, and their
root-accented comparatives. Originally, the contrast was accompanied by
ablaut variation, as e.g. in *kr.t-ú- 'strong' vs. *krét-jos-
'stronger', but the pattern remained productive in post-ablaut times,
cf. Gmc. *junGa- (Goth. juggs) < *ju(:)nk-ó- < PIE *h2ju-h3n.-k^ó- vs.
*junxizan- (Goth. ju:hiza) < pre-PGmc. *jú(:)nk-is-on-. Similarly in
thematic adjectives: among Schaffner's examples we find e.g. *krot-ó- >
PGmc. *xraþ/ða- (related to *kr.t-ú-) and *h2(a)l-tó- > *alþ/ða- 'old',
whose þ-forms seem to be based on comparatives. Another possible source
of variation is the contrast between free-standing adjectives like
*poik^-ó- 'painted, ornamented' and compound epithets involving a
related noun (here, *póik^-o- 'colouring, ornament', Skt. péśa-) as
their second member (cf. Beowulfian <gryre-fa:h> 'terrible in its
colouring'), hence Gmc. *faix/Ga-.
Piotr