Re: Gmc. w-/g-, j-/g-

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "stlatos" <stlatos@...> wrote:

>

> This uvular R usually > r in historical Gmc. Also, at:
>
> http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/piep07.html
>
> Winfred P. Lehmann, when discussing OHG r-preterites says: "The sequence assumed here for seventh class verbs is PIE /eXw/ [eXu], for first class verbs /yX/ [iX]. I suggest that in these sequences the laryngeals were preserved, and that their reflexes fell into the OHG r-phoneme."
>

> He also attempts to explain y- / 0- alt. in Gmc and Greek as from Hy-, which is wrong and unnecessary, since optionally any y > xY , and the Greek ev. is the opp. of what he suggests, showing x()y > GYy > dYzYy , not x()y > h .
>

In all IE, optionally any y > xY , which, though not always, usually > h in Gmc. In old translations of Gmc into other languages, this h- is written h-, and so preserved. Later in Gmc, h>0 then x>h (from k() , etc.); since most x() > h earlier, most are lost, so only when x() remained did x>h occur, preserving a trace and merging with k() in appearance.

For example, * xYer.t.á:x > * herTo: > airþa Go; jörð ON; erda OHG; but in one language or group * herTo: > * herTa \ * herTu [adapted into L as * Hertha or * Herthus]. This was originally written as * "Hertha or Herthus" = mother earth, later transcribed as * "Hertha" or * "Herthus" , due to scribes misunderstanding the meaning of "or" (since they presumably sometimes wrote "A or B" when the reading was originally unclear, intending later to strike out one if they could figure out the original), with one later misreading of N for H in Nerthus = "mother earth" , etc.