Andreas Johansson wrote:
> Quoting R A Brown <ray@...>:
>
>
>>Tim Smith wrote:
>>
>>>R A Brown wrote:
[snip]
>>Correct - from PIE *ma:tr ~ *ma:ter ~ *ma:tor
>>
>>PIE /a:/ was retained in Doric Greek but became [E:] in Ionic & Attic
>>dialects and subsequently in standard classical Greek. By the Roman
>>period the sound had shifted to [e:].
>>
>>But the PIE word itself is bimorphemic, consisting of two bound
>>morphemes: ma:- and the suffix -tr (with ablaut variants -ter and -tor)
>>found in the words for father (*p@tr), brother (*fra:tr) and sister
>>(*swestr).
>
>> Surely you mean *bhra:tr for "brother"?
Yes, I do. But the reply was not meant for the list either, as I was
replying to a private email.
My brain wasn't at its best after an afternoon with the grandkids.
>>but
>>
>>>that /metron/ comes from a different source?
>>
>>Indeed it does - I don't have an etymological dictionary to hand, but if
>>memory serves me aright, it's from a root *met- = 'measure' with suffix
>>-ro- denoting instrument, i.e. met-ro-n 'a measuring instrument.' But
>>certainly nothing to do with *ma:tr words.
>
> According to the American Heritage Dictionary, either from *meh- "to measure" or
> from *med- "to take appropriate measures". One can't help but wonder whether
> those two roots might derive from some common source ...
Or where the -t- in the Greek version comes from if the PIE root was *med-
--
Ray
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