I don't rule it out. There has been
borrowing from Munda into Indo-Aryan and from Indo-Aryan into Munda. <lo>
can only be an example of the latter, if anything, since *newn is very clearly a
common IE word, and forms similar to <lo> occur only in a few Munda
dialects that have long been in contact with Indo-Aryan; some of them have
borrowed other numerals as well (most Dravidian languages except the southern
ones have done so too, retaining only the lowest native numerals; Brahui has
only Indo-Aryan loans in the 4-10 range). By contrast, the <are> variant
of '9' is widespread in Munda (also in Santali), cannot be an IA or Dravidian
loan, and quite clearly reflects the Munda protoword for "nine". The form of
<lo> rules out an early loan; the borrowed word would have had to be
something like <no:>, i.e. _Modern_ Indo-Aryan.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 12:10
PM
Subject: [phoNet] Re: Phonetic change lo
-- no in some languages
Why should borrowing from PIE into Munda be ruled out?
[Assume for the sake of argument that Munda speakers who were metal workers,
were present ca. 3300 BCE in Mehrgar.h].