Re: CHAT: Subtitles (was: Re: Proto-Romance)

Hi!

John Cowan <cowan@...> writes:
> ObRant:  It's a mystery to me how the verb _bow_ 'bend the body' and its
> derived noun _bow_ (both /bau/) got separated from the noun _bow_ 'missile
> weapon; viol implement' and its derived verb (both /bou/), since a bow
> is transparently "that which is bent" (as in _rainbow_, very plainly).
> But it was already so in OE:  bugan, boga respectively.
Maybe it is a help that in German, one is the perfect and preterite of
the other:

beugen = OE bugan
Bogen  = OE boga

The verb 'beugen' has pret. 'wir bogen', and PPP 'gebogen', i.e.

   'Der Bogen ist gebogen.'   'The bow is bowed.'
   'Ich beuge den Bogen.'     'I bow the bow.'
   'Wir bogen den Bogen.'     'We bowed the bow.'

Thus the reason for separation is ablaut: bow /bou/ is derived from
bow /bau/.

**Henrik

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