W dniu 2011-06-03 23:27, stlatos pisze:
> Also, why does <vienas> "one" have <v->?
> It's obviously because PIE h3 = xW and in IE xW > w and w > xW were opt.
> (such as in the dual * -ó:xW / -ó:w ), though this is not standard theory.
It's extremely non-obvious, given
(1) the fact that there is no *w- in its cognates in Slavic (*ino-) or
even West Baltic (<aina->), which points to an inner East Baltic
innovation rather than a retained archaic variant;
(2) etyma with securely reconstructible *h3- in East Baltic (like the
words for 'eagle' or 'eye') do not show any particular tendency to
develop v-prothesis.
Whatever the source of this /v-/ (there are several explanations, none
of them universally accepted), it is as likely to be "laryngeal" as the
irregular /w-/ of Modern English <one>.
Piotr