Re: Pre-Greek loanwords

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

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@> wrote:
> >
> > Loanwords can go either way. Semitic has borrowed such IE terms as
> *burg- 'tower', *tawr- 'bull', and *qarn- 'horn'.
> >
> The first one is a Wanderwort of Vasco-Caucasian origin. And unlike
> *(s)teur-,*taur- doesn't have the IE Ablaut vowel, so it must be another
> Wanderwort.

The first one can be etymologized within PIE: *bHer-g^H- 'to carry within' > 'to protect from the elements' > 'to defend'. It started wandering from PIE, not to PIE. The second is *th2eur-, distinct from *steur-. Etr. <thevru> 'bull' also comes from it.

> > It may well have borrowed '6' and '7' from IE for use in counting
> cattle.
> >
> Semitic *sab?\(at)-um '7' can be linked to the word 'finger' in the same
> family, probably indicating the index finger in counting (a hand plus
> the thumb and index of the other). This numeral spread as a Wanderwort
> to other families such as IE, where it has no etymology. Also notice
> Germanic *sibun reflexes the Semitic masculine (unsufixed) form.

The -un does not correspond. In Gmc. it reflects PIE */m./, restored to the cardinal from the ordinal. PIE '7' appears to have Narten inflection, with */e/ where zero-grade should be, and */e:/ in Skt. <sa:'ptam> 'heptad' (not a vr.ddhi; cf. <das'a't-> 'decad'). Narten inflection is rare and archaic, hardly a borrowing.

DGK