Re: On Greek anthro:pos 'man'

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 70880
Date: 2013-02-02

I'm on chemo, so I have lots of lapses but Anatolian -nd- > Greek -nth- does seem to be the most logical explanation. There may well have been an intervening language or an Anatolian language with a slightly different phonology which may explain the Greek form

--- On Sat, 2/2/13, Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...> wrote:

From: Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...>
Subject: [tied] Re: On Greek anthro:pos 'man'
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, February 2, 2013, 4:22 AM

 



--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister wrote:

> Isn't Greek -nth- cognate to Anatolian -nd-???

We (you & I) have discussed this in the past. See my post about Anna Morpurgo-Davies' arguments against the Pre-Greek substratum in Greek being (IE) Anatolian or "para-Anatolian" at

http://tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/63882

The regular reflex of the PIE *-went- suffix ('having X') is the consonant cluster -nt- in Greek, and -nt-/-nd- in Anatolian. Why would Greek have borrowed names in -nd-/-nt- from an Anatolian or "para-Anatolian" substrate with operating a shift to -nth- against the expected -nd- or -nt- ?

Also J. Chadwick ("Greek and Pre-Greek", TPhS 1969, pp. 80-98) stated that the -nth- formations in mainland Greece and the Aegean Islands must represent the relics of a non-IE pre-Greek substrate, not of an Anatolian (or "para-Anatolian") IE substrate possessed of -nd-/-nt- formations. He noted there are no known examples of one and the same IE-inherited root, common to both the Greek and Anatolian branches, to which is added the -nth- suffix in Greek and the -nt-/-nd- one in Anatolian.

Kind regards,
Francesco