Re: A possible conundrum or a twisted root

It was an old idea of Pedersen's - alternation between */bh/ and */p/
(similarly for the other points of articulation) - but then from
already PIE *bhrk'-nó-s

2012/12/12, Brian M. Scott <bm.brian@...>:

> At 6:19:34 PM on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, Rick
> McCallister wrote:
>
>> To my intuition, English sprinkle, Spanish pringar (to
>> stain in little dots, moisten with water before ironing,
>> etc.), English freckle and Gaelic breic (sp?) "spotted,
>> freckled", seem to be related.
>
> <Freckle> is from ME <freknes> 'freckles', probably of
> Scand. origin (ON <freknóttr> 'freckled'). Watkins assigns
> both this and <sprinkle> to PIE *(s)preg- 'to jerk,
> scatter'.
>
> Although the /b/ is unexpected, Matasović derives OIr.
> <brecc> from PIE *prk'- 'speckled' via PCelt. *brikko-
> 'speckled', with IE cognates Skt. pŕśni- 'mottled, speckled'
> and Gk. perknós. Watkins, on the other hand, assigns it to
> *(s)preg-, thereby making it kin to <freckle> and to
> <sprinkle>.
>
> Brian
>
>