Re: Are *dHeg^Hom and adamah cognates?

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

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Etherman23" <etherman23@> wrote:
> >
> > > Could we assume that PIE *dHeg^Hom "earth" and Semitic 'DM "earth
> are cognates? Could we infer a common Nostratic source? Or some mutual
> influence? In both languages there's the pair earthly being
> (human)/earth, cf. homo/humus and adam/adamah. Is there another language
> where the word for "man" mean "earthly"?
> > >
> > > Joao S. Lopes
> >
> > Doesn't seem likely. Semitic lacks anything corresponding to *g^H.
> >
> That's right, as the IE and Semitic words don't match phonetically (IE
> *-m is the accusative ending).

That's what I thought at first but a number of languages have another suffix after the *-m, which suggests that this is a derivational suffix instead of an inflectional one. However m-stems are extremely rare in IE, so it might be that the word is just a borrowing and the *m is just part of the root in whatever language it was borrowed from.

> > Starostin suggests cognation with:
> >
> > Semitic: deḳaḳ-hān (pl.) 'mud' Soqotri
> > Berber: *dVḳ(ḳ)- 'clay'
> > Western Chadic: *daḳ- 'clay soil'
> > Beḍauye (Beja): dekʷa 'dust'
> > Central Cushitic (Agaw): *daḳu- 'clay '
> >
> This is actually Militarev's (not all DBs found in Starostin's website
> are his).

True. Me using Starostin is mainly a shorthand way of indicating that I'm getting the data from the Tower of Babel website.

> On the other hand, Orel & Stolbova (HSED 634) reconstruct an
> Afrasian root *dak'- 'clay, sand', although no Semitic data is
> included.

Not surprising if it's found only in that one language.

> This is a widespread Eurasian root with cognates in many language
> families:
> Kartvelian *diq- 'clay, earth'
> Altaic *tHà:go 'dirt (sut, clay)'
> Sino-Tibetan *dh@... 'clay, mire'
> Yeniseian *t@... 'clay, mud'
> Burushaski *toq 'mud'

Sounds like we may be dealing with a wanderwort though it's a strange word to wonder around.

> In addition to the "official" *dheg^hom, IE has also *dheig^h- 'to work
> clay'.

Good catch. There's also *dheigW "to dig, stab". Not so close semantically but not so far away as to be implausible.