Re: *ka/unt- etc, new conquests

From: Torsten
Message: 65242
Date: 2009-10-14

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, johnvertical@... wrote:
>
> > > > > > "This is above all its distribution area. It is bigger
> > > > > > than that of Krahe's name groups and seems by far to go
> > > > > > beyond the borders of Europe, which I included in my
> > > > > > works.
> > > > >
> > > > > I notice he doesn't actually demonstrate this claim here.
> > > >
> > > > True. But I'll trust him on this one. He's usually reliable.
> > >
> > > I don't tho, and I don't plan on starting to back on trust in
> > > matters of science. Or hey, I could just tell that I trust
> > > Pokorny or Redei or Sammallahti or whomever on the matter and
> > > we'd have nothing to discuss. (Which might actually be the smart
> > > choice if the experts were still cracking at the topic too, but
> > > Krahe won't be around to defend anything anymore.)
> >
> > You're mixing up things. When I say I trust Kuhn on this one I
> > obviously mean that I believe that he has the data he says he
> > has. When you are talking about Pokorny or Redei or Sammallahti
> > or whomever you are talking about taking on faith their
> > interpretation of the data. Those are two different things.
>
> No, you mean that he has the data,
unless he's lying, of course,

> that he has interpreted it correctly,
according to his own theory? I trust he did.

> and that you have assumed correctly *what* data he has.
Erh, what?

> I see nothing suggesting that by "far beyond Europa" he means
> Siberia specifically.

No, and?

> And at any rate, this tangent won't take the burden of proof off
> your back.

What? Proof? I didn't write the article. But I can't find the names he refers to in those of his articles I searched. But it doesn't matter, since words of the ar-/ur- etc language are found also in Western Europe, which means either Uralic got that far (which I don't believe), or that those words belong to a common sub- or adstrate to both IE and Uralic (namely the ar-/ur- etc language).



> > > > It would mean that some substrate in Europe
> > > > had a root *ka/unt- "hunt etc" which was unrelated to Uralic
> > > > *kunta "group, to hunt", *kan-ta "to carry" and *kënta "stump,
> > > > base".
> > >
> > > This was Germanic, no? Perhaps I should look deeper into past
> > > discussions.
> >
> > No, it's more than that. Try
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/56153
> > taking keywords from that.
>
> "Hate" and "woven"? Try connecting the latter with "hidden" et al
> if you wish, but to "hunt"??

What is the matter with you? Do you have ADHD??
Here's the quote:
'> > PCelt. *kassi- 'hatred, hate' (OIr <cais> 'strong emotion
> > (whether positive or negative'; OWel, MBret, Corn <cas>) <
> > PIE *k^ah2d- 'hate'.
>
> So that's the PIE -h2d- > Celtic -ss-?
>
> > PCelt. *kasso- 'curly, woven, twisted' (OIr <cass>, Gaulish
> > <Cassi->, <Bodio-casses>), no PIE.
>
> I'm rather infatuated with Twe-hanti, Þri-hanti vs. Tri-cassi vs.
> Catti/Chatti/Hessen vs. centuria, so I think I'll stick with that
> instead of The Hatefuls or The Curlies, if it's OK with you.'

Why are you attributing other people's proposals to me, proposals I explicitly reject in this quote?

> > > Okay, so there's *kan-tho- "edge" which looks like it could be
> > > related to Uralic *känta (up to minimal quadruplet now). The
> > > distribution and semantics here are sufficiently bad that I can
> > > believe it might be two separate words, with Samic "shore"
> > > related to the IE complex.
>
> In fact Samic *kánté could be simply a loan from Proto-
> Scandinavian. No extra intermediaries required.

OK.

> > > I continue not to see the semantic link to "hunting group" or
> > > the other Uralic words. The idea of a link in the form of
> > > "edge" ~ "cavalry wing of 100 horsemen" ~ "group" is
> > > unconvincing even for Germanic alone.
> >
> > Who talks about Germanic? The Chatti weren't.
>
> Says who?

Sez George and me. Read the interesting (I think) discussion in the archive. Seems they came from within NWB-land.

> > From your Pokorny *kan-tho- "edge":'cymr. cant ,Schar', dazu mir.
> > céte (*kantya:) ,Versammlung', wohl als *,Hundertschaft'
> > identisch mit cymr. cant ,100' oben S. 92;
>
> Oh hello, homophony.

Erh?

> Or will you insist that "100" is also a part of this substrate loan
> complex?

Yes.

> Judging by the recent posts you would seem to. This messes up the
> dating pretty bad, y'kno.

?? Of?

> > It's apparently Venetic too:
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/61079
>
> Interesting. Which Venetic is this?

This one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetic


> > BTW, just found this one, I wasn't aware of it:
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/9416
>
> Looks coincidental.

I disagree.

> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/55551
>
> Is within Germanic area.

The Chatti weren't Germanic.

> > > That makes about as much sense as "edge" ~ "a sharp-toothed
> > > animal" ~ "hound", or "edge" ~ "knife" ~ "handheld tool" ~
> > > "hand",

Those middle terms are your own. I haven't advocated them.

> See, the key problem with expanding the "flank" connection is that
> it is a very culture-specific one.

Goddammit! For the third time:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/65159
'The tribe could be of dual (left and right "wings") or triple (left and right wings plus a center), and was militarily organized by the decimal structure (i.e., units of thousands, hundred, and tens with a hierarchy of leaders) (Taskin 1989).'
and the title of the chapter was
'Social Organizations of Eurasian Nomads'
So, pay attention now: this is the very culture-specific social organization of Eurasian nomads.

> There is no automatical connection between "group" and "edge",
> especially not between "hunt" and "edge". Moreover, a flank is a
> special case of both, so whichever direction you begin from, you'd
> need first a specialization of meaning, then a re-generalization in
> another direction with a full loss of the older specialized
> meaning, and even while still retaining the original meaning, it
> seems. That's a tall order!

What??
Now I don't know how far you can count (maybe counting on your fingers will help?) or how many fancy words you know, but here's the trick: 'dual' means there were two, and 'triple' means there were three. In the first case both 'wings' would be 'flanks', and in the second two thirds of them would be (yes, those on the sides). Do you have LEGO? Maybe you can recreate it on your livingroom floor to help you visualize it.


> You'll need to toss in something more before I'll buy it.

Would you like a retread with you new theory? Or perhaps a piece of strawberry shortcake?

> Also, remind me, which one DO you hold to be the original meaning?

I used to think it was "carry", but considering the "hand" words ...
I still don't know.

> > > (OTOH hound ~ hunt might have something to it, but it's
> > > not directly relevant now).
> >
> > Of course it is.
>
> No, we have no sense of "dog" in Uralic.

And?

> I'm most of the time not sure what you are discussing exactly, but
> I'm discussing the issue of if any of these kVNT words have been
> loaned to Uralic.

OK, so that one hasn't. And?

> > > Finnic *kansa is a kno'n loan, so not relevant.
> >
> > Finnic *kansa is an assumed loan, so relevant.
>
> Clarifying: it's not relevant to the issue of if PU was in contact
> with these ar/ur/geminate substrate thingamajigs, because this
> lacks an Uralic etymology. Again, we do not assume it to be a loan,
> we conclude it to be.

No, you and everybody assume it's a loan to Uralic from Germanic, and then shine up the assumption by calling it a conclusion. I assume it's a loan from the ar-/ur- etc language to Uralic and Germanic (and Celtic and ...).

> Or are you referring to there being a regular Permic cognate (*gooz
> "pair")? Yes, it could in theory be inherited until Finno-Permic.
> Nothing in Mari and Mordvinic (or Ugric/Samoyed) however, so
> possibly a loan thru Finnic?

You go on with your 'loan from Germanic'.

> I'd need to check if that correspondence exists in any other
> supposed F > P loans. It does look a bit too old for that.
>
>
> > > "Hat" ~ "hose",
> >
> > I'm trying to keep 'hat'/'hood'/'cassis'out of the picture, but
> > it might be necessary to include it (as 'helmet' as implement for
> > war).
>
> And then "hand" as something you hit people with?

No.

> I don't think this will fly. "Loosely having something to do with
> war" is not sufficient (what doesn't link that way, if you have
> some imagination?)

And that's why I was trying to keep it out.

> > "hidden",
> > Check these
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/50960
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/51056
> > for 'hude'.
>
> Just because we have a word that could go with the "hide" etymon,
> or with the "edge" etymon, we don't have to make them one and the
> same (at least not the same on the post-PIE timescale).

I don't think I claimed we had to do that.

> > "cunt" ~ "kusi" etc.
> > If there's any connection, it's as "fish meat"/"inferior meat",
> cf. Sw. kött and Eng. chitlings, ie. as the food of the conquered,
> originally the object of the hunting/fishing expedition.


> "Food of the conquered"? I'm going to say this idea is stillborn.
> Especially from the Uralic POV, given that *kuns´i is near
> pan-Uralic with the exclusiv meaning of "urine". You could much
> better argue for "that which is to be hidden" (not that I would
> think of that as convincing either, however).

Or you could drag in *kunc^V ˜ *kuc^V "tapeworm"

> > > If you are saying what I think you are saying (ie. that these
> > > are all "related somehow") the criteria for
> > > related-somehow-ness seem to come down to:

> > > 1) Forget all about MOA
> > Isn't that a kind of bird?
>
> Manner of Articulation. nt~t~tt~nd~d~dd~ns~ss~s~... anything goes!?

That pretty much exhausts that set.

> Likewise, POA = Place of Articulation.

> > > 2) Forget all about semantics
> > No.

> Only a minor exaggerration what I think you're doing here.

It's a gross distortion.

> Sticking with the "people" words first is what I would do in your
> stead.

But you're not.


> > > 3) Look for vowels that adhere to a pre-decided set
> > Are part of.
>
> As you will; keyword being "pre-decided" however.

Of course.

> > > Heck, why not change #3 to
> > > 3b) Forget all about vowels
> > Because that would not be in the ar-/ur- language.
>
> That's a telling answer.

Yes.

> > > > > > > Also the distinction between Uralic *kunta "group, to
> > > > > > > hunt", "to hunt", *kan-ta "to carry" and *kënta "stump,
> > > > > > > base" is by all evidence one inherited from PU;

> > > > > > If you give up your assumption that they are native Uralic
> > > > > > words, you will.
>
> > They occur far to the west of the Uralic area,
>
> Something very very loosely resembling them.
No.

> Do you have anything that actually means "to carry", or "base (of
> tree)"?
No.

> If not, just admit that these are unrelated.

No, I think they are the starting point.

> > and by using Uralic sound laws you get no further than claiming
> > three, possibly four Uralic roots.
>
> Not a problem. They contrast in numerous languages, and have
> consistently distinct semantics and phonetics.

Semantics, no. Phonetics, within Uralic, yes.

> > > If you use a method other than the presense of phonetical
> > > irregularities, or spotty distribution combined with parallels
> > > elsewhere (or the lack of a deeper etymology - but that's not
> > > applicable here) for identifying latter loanwords in a
> > > protolang's reconstructed lexicon, I'd like to hear about it.
> >
> > That's the one I use.
>
> Good, we agree on something.
>
>
> > > More seriously tho, there is an obvious semantic connection
> > > between "democrat" and "democracy" that does not exist between
> > > "stump" and "to hunt".
> >
> > No, you'd have to assume a semantic historic development that
> > went "support" -> "one of two supports, carrying pole" > "flank"
> > "social/military organization".
>
> As I said, no obvious connection.
Is too.

> Too many assumptions.
No.

> The meaning of "pole" is limited to Ob-Ugric, ie. east (and you
> seem to be sneaking in a polysemy of "carrying pole", as
> "weight-carrying" vs. "that which is carried, standard" - only the
> 1st is attested);
No, I use only the first.

> west there is only "tree stump", "base".
Yes.

> Again, you also cannot extrapolate ~Germanic society to
> Proto-Uralic.

What on earth are you talking about?

> > > > > Down that road, we could as well decide that all words are
> > > > > substrate loans and call it a day.
> > >
> > > The correct objection to that is that taken to its logical
> > > conclusion, it would abolish the concept of regular descent of
> > > lexicon from a reconstructable proto-language.
> >
> > > An English word resembling a German word? Must be because
> > > they're cross-loans, or both loaned from the same substrate...
> > > hm, looks like this substrate contains alternations such as -k
> > > ~ -x... and -t- ~ -ts-...
> >
> > And you'd end up with a huge corpus from that 'substrate' which
> > would turn out to be regular descent.
>
> Yes. Thus concludes our demonstration of Why Words With Regular
> Correspondences Aren't Later Substrate Loans.

No, Why Majority Sets Of Words With Regular Correspondences Aren't
Later Substrate Loans

> Next we could put said result to use.
No, because it is wrong.

>
> > > Also external comparisions can just as well point to common
> > > inheritance
> >
> > I usually avoid that.
>
> Because?

Because the comparison attempts I've seem don't seem to go past sets of words, no account of grammatical development.

> > The words I stumble over look from the semantics to be
> > Kulturwörter.
>
> Are "tree stump", "to carry" cultural words too?

'Hunting storage' is. It goes with a way of life.

> "Urine"? "Hate"?

I never included those.

> > > (if not straight out coincidence).
> > Hardly.
>
> Oh, but you'll need statistical proof to be able to back that up.

What?
>
> > > All I'm saying is that these go back to proto-Uralic.
> > I thought you had a lot to say on method?
>
> Well, all I'm saying on the origin of *kunta *kanta- *kënta within
> Uralic. And some method inevitable comes up with even that, if I
> need to explain how does one end at that conclusion.

What is it you're trying to say here?

> > > > > > > And I have no idea what you are getting at with the
> > > > > > > other roots with *ka- you list in msg #62525.
> > >
> > > I'd appreciate if you for once just told us what your thesis is
> > > on them, insted of expecting others to read your thoughts on
> > > the matter.
> >
> > I don't even have a final conjecture, because new unexpected
> > discoveries still send me on new tracks. But I think it's this: a
> > way of life developed in the forest-steppe, the home of the
> > Uralic and Yeniseian speakers, which had to do with hunting
> > storages and hunting for small animals and fishing, and the
> > social organization resulting from that was somehow transferred
> > to the steppe, home of the Iranian-speakers and somehow ended up
> > in even the westernmost IE elites.
>
> Proto-Uralians invented hunting-gathering and/or storing food?

No, someone before them invented the idea of relocating to a hunting base for the summer. They used to do that until recently on Greenland.

> Either you're having problems communicating the gist of your idea,
> or you're doing comedy.

Pfft.

> And anyway, I meant: what is your thesis on the relationships of
> the Uralic words you list?

That they are loans from a sub- or adstrate.

> Think a little smaller, please.

No.

> Getting something — anything — solid together first, insted of
> trying to juggle all the strings simultaneously, would definitely
> help others to agree if you are on to something at all, too.

M'kay.


> > > Or are you trying to say that *ka is an un-Uralic combination
> > > and therefore sufficient grounds for a word being a loan? ;)
> >
> > You tell me. It's an un-IE combination.
>
> > The paucity of *k and *a in PIE is a fact.
> >

> Yeah, I'm not contesting that, it just doesn't matter diddly squat
> when dealing with another language family.

Does too, if the words belong together.

> They're quite common in Uralic, especially together,

Erh, and?

> in case you didn't gather yet

I did, actually.

> (apparently you have access to the UEW to check, too).

Yes, we need to tighten the procedures on access to our sacred books.


Torsten