From: gprosti
Message: 66045
Date: 2010-04-07
>Couldn't this be due to analogy? A CVC root plus the negative prefix would have the form aCCat-, with two moras in the initial syllable. A VC root would normally only have one mora in this syllable, but maybe the initial vowel was lengthened (giving a:sat-, etc.) in order to maintain the two-mora pattern.
> On 2010-04-07 16:43, G&P wrote:
>
> > Yes. Vowel lengthening in a previous syllable is sometimes explained that
> > way. You find this in compound forms, and in verse. There is the
> > occasional suggestion of this in Homer, though it seems unlikely. The
> > examples from the Vedas, especially the Rg Veda, are more likely. Compounds
> > are better.
> >
> > e.g. h1widheu "separate" Pokorny p1127 Skt vidhyati pierce has
> > reduplicated aor avi:vidhat with lengthened i:
> > and h1 ger "wake" which I mentioned in a previous post, also showing
> > lengthening in a reduplicated form in Skt.
> >
> > Peter
>
> One of the most beatiful examples, for its simplicity, is RV รก:sat-
> 'unreal', the negated pres.part. od 'to be' < *n.-h1sn.t-
>
> Piotr
>