Re: Origin of *h2arh3-trom 'plough'

From: dgkilday57
Message: 69783
Date: 2012-06-07

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Tavi" <oalexandre@...> wrote:
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Then you pretty much solved "plow" --it's from IE *bhelg- "a thick
> plank, a beam" which is exactly what wooden and metal-tipped wooden
> plows look like in Central America and other places that I've seen in
> pictures.
> > *bhlugo- > Celtic or NWB/Venetic/Rhaetic *blug- > Germanic *plux-
> "plug or block, plug or block shaped thing (such as a plow" which makes
> a whole hell of a lot sense more than "land rudder"
> >
> As I said before, this etymology would explain plug but not plough. In
> case you haven't noticed, vowel quantity is different in both words.
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@> wrote:
> >
> > > As many other Germanic words with initial p-, 'plug' is possibly a
> NWB
> > > loanword corresponding to native 'block':
> >
> > Lucky for you, Torsten is on vacation. Hans Kuhn's NWB substrate
> does not work this way. It preserves inherited PIE */p/, unlike
> Celtic, and loans words to post-Grimm's Law lowland West Germanic, so
> that the latter has a few words with initial /p/ which would have
> initial /f/ by ordinary inheritance. You can find examples in Kuhn's
> paper "Anlautend P im Germanischen".
> >
> In that case, there must be other substrates from which Germanic words
> with initial p- have originated, as truly native words with that
> consonant are extremely rare, and I'm sure 'plough' isn't among them.
> Considering the likely relationship with Latinized Rhaetic plaumoratum,
> which one would you suggest?

I suspect that 'plough' originated in Late Rhaetic, and did not reach WGmc until well after the Lautverschiebung. But I have my hands full with that Ligurian business, so it will be several weeks before I can think about addressing this 'plough' business.

DGK