--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Torsten" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> That's nice. Now, if you want the rest of us to accept that
> pre-Greek was IE, you should present his arguments here.
>
> > Unlike these authors, I don't think "Pre-Greek" was a single
> > language, but rather a label under which lie several substrates,
> > both IE and non-IE.
>
> Aha. And what was your point in mentioning Georgiev's Pelasgian then? You explicitly said 'pséphas must be a "Pelasgian" (a variety of Thracian) loanword'. Now it suddenly doesn't matter? Are you even trying?
>
What I meant is "Pre-Greek" isn't a single but several substrate layers, representing the indigenous language spoken in the area before kurganization, one of which is precisely Thraco-Pelasgian.
Greek
zéphuros 'west wind' and
zóphos 'darkness' represent a root
*dJepH- ~ *dJopH- which can be readily linked to Altaic
*dZipHu 'evening, darkness' (a "satem" form in his full right). But IMHO Greek
ps- in
pséphas, pséphos 'dark' must derive from a *labialized* sibilant
*ts^W which would be reflected as Etruscan
f- in
*favi- (cfr. Latin
favissa 'crypt' vel sim) and
*k´s- in Indo-Iranian
*k´sep- 'night'.
The root can be analyzed as compound whose first member would be cognate to NWC
*(p@-)dz^W@ 'dusk, evening'. On the other hand, Greek
knéphas 'dark,
dnóphos, gnóphos 'darkness' would be cognate to the IE word for 'night'
*nekW-t-, including reduction of the labiovelar. This root would be ultimately related to NEC
*h\nitts^wV 'night, evening'.