Re: Happy New Year!

On 2010-01-03 10:50, polymodalsynesthete wrote:

> Hello and happy new year to you as well Piotr!
>
> Sorry for being off-topic, but I was wondering if you received my e-mail
> (regarding "dog" and such)? Wanted to check that it didn't get lost in
> cyberspace.

Hi, Lisa!

I remember sending you a PDF of my article. Then, in August, I replied
to your e-mail, but for some reason my reply kept bouncing off your
server. Let me paste it here in case it didn't get through:

On 2009-08-14 06:21, LJE wrote:

> I have a few questions if you have the time and inclination:

Hi, Lisa! You're most welcome.

> - Would *docga have been pronounced /dOgga/, /dOg:a/, or /dOga/?
Basically wondering if the g was rearticulated (/gg/), just held out
longer (g:), or was a simple /g/.

Phonemically, it was a geminate, /gg/, distinct from /g/ (which, by the
way, would have had a fricative realisation, [G] between vowels.
Phonetically, geminated stops are often distinguished from simple ones
just by having a prolonged occlusive phase, but one can't know with
absolute certainty if that was the case in OE.

> - Also, the first vowel was /O/, right, and not /o:/? (And I assume
the same is true for dox?)

A short vowel in all these words.

> - OE dox < OE or AS dohx < AS *dosc < PGmc *duskaz < IE *dhuskos ?

Yes, something of the kind.

> - What would the IE definition of *dhuskos (or whatever the correct
reconstruction is) be?

Pokorny's dictionary connects it with *dHwes- 'blow', hence *dHus-ko-
'something blown, dust' --> 'dust-coloured' . Obviously, Lat. fuscus is a
cognate.

> - Speaking of, any ideas on Spanish perro? Always wondered about
that one too.

Who hasn't? :) I've no idea. Romance etymology is a vast field with lots
of problems of its own, especially in an area like the Iberian
Peninsula, with lots of barely known substrate languages in historical
times.

Best wishes,

Piotr

Well, if English dogcas are "dusty", maybe Spanish perros were once *perdo < pardo "brown, dark, gray" --although the saying says "de noche todos los gatos son pardos"