At 12:28 pm +0200 28/4/00, BP Jonsson wrote:
[...]
>
>You might add Sanskrit _u.sas_ (f. s-stem) and the related verb _vas_
>"shine", and perhaps also _u.s_ "emit heat". Combining all this evidence
>the IE root must have been *h2ews/*H2wes.
Thanks - some enlightenment at last - but I guess that's to be expected
from a Buddhist ;)
>These roots whose middle grade
>can have either a falling or a rising diphthong are aptly called
>_samprasaara.na_ "floating" in Sanskrit. Note that the Greek h- has
>nothing to do with the I.E. h2-, but is an assimilation from the medial
>-s- > -h- > -0-.
Yep - I thought I'd shown that, but maybe I hadn't made it clear.
>Preconsonantal initial h2- became a- in Proto-Greek (e.g.
>*h2ne:r > Gk. _ane:r_, Skt. _nar(a)_; cf. Gk. _euandros_ Skt. _suunara <
>*h1(e)suh2ner-, where *h2 lengthens the _u_ in Skt.), while prevocalic it
>colored a following e(:) to a(:) as seen in the forms of *h2e:usos- in
>Greek and Latin. The variation in length seen in the root vowel is due to
>ablaut.
Thanks again - at least something's getting clearer.
>WRT the -a in aurora: the adding of a theme vowel to consonant
>stems is so common that difference in this respect between different IE
>lgs don't rise any brows among IEnists. Sometimes we find doublets in the
>same language, like Skt. _nar/nara_ or Gk. _ane:r/euandros_.
Good - nice to have that point cleared up.
>I'm afraid only Ray can follow this.
Your fears were unfounded, as you've seen from responses already. You
underestimate the lucidity of your explanations :)
Ray.
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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
[J.G. Hamann 1760]
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