From: Joao S. Lopes
Message: 66121
Date: 2010-05-05
--- In cybalist@... s.com, Octavià Alexandre wrote:
> IMHO, *marko- 'horse' (hardly a PIE word) isn't a Wanderwort from Altaic *mor- 'horse' as in communis opinio but an old (Mesolithic/ Upper Paleolithic) substrate item related to Altaic *n^argu 'young male deer/elk'. I call "Paleo-European" the substrate language(s) from which originated this kind of LW.
>
> Apparently, Paleo-Eurasian (my own version of Russian school's Eurasiatic) initials nasal *n-, *n^- were labialized in Paleo-European as *m- before back vowels /o,u/ (sometimes also before /a/), as in *moro- 'blackberry' ~ Altaic *nur^i- 'a k. of berry, grape' (cfr. Hittite muri- '(bunch of) grapes')
Uralic *mura "cloudberry" seems about as convincing a comparision here, which leaves this law of *n > *m not very well supported, unless you have more examples.
> and denasalized as *d- elsewhere, as in Latin da:m(m)a 'fallow deer' ~ Altaic *n^àme 'goat, deer'.
Assuming that this comparision is valid, can you rule out nasalization brought on by the medial -m- on the Altaic side? It is not apparent why should *n denasalize but *m should not.
John Vertical