Re: Octha or Ohta?

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...> wrote:

>

> The example of Sanskrit <vájra->, Avestan <vazra-> is the 12th of the 14 cited by Lubotsky, "Laryngeals before mediae in Indo-Iranian", MSS 40:133-8 (1981), in which a laryngeal appears to have vanished before an inherited voiced unaspirated stop. In this paper L. does not distinguish *h2 from *h4, and wherever he can determine the laryngeal, it is *h2 (or *h4). His form for 'break' is thus *weh2g^-. His explanation is that a laryngeal was lost in InIr before a voiced unaspirated stop plus another consonant. Apparent exceptions, in his view, resulted from later processes, primarily the thematization of originally athematic presents. It is worth noting that *sweh2d- and *pleh2g- are two of L.'s other examples. Since I now regard these roots as probably *weh4g^-, *sweh4d-, and *pleh4g-, I intend to examine the remaining examples for evidence of *h4.
>

There are similar forms in other branches, such as grando: L; grúodas Lith; that are irreg.:


* gWer.xú+ \ gWar.xú+ \ gWr.xú+ = heavy


* gWer.xún.+ \ = heavy (stone) > millstone

grá:van- (m) = stone for pressing out Soma RV S;


* gWer.xun.íd*+ = small stone > hail-stone

hra:dúni- (f) = hail(-stones) S;
karkut karkti (g) = hail Arm;
grando: (f) -inis (g) = hail(-storm) L;
gradU = hail OCS; grúodas = frozen dirt/earth Lith;


The dif. represent opt. changes, such as can occur with any group of x() next to K(), among others.