Re: Questions on Proto-Indo-European

 --- Quentin Read skrzypszy:

> I have recently gotten a book on PIE Roots (The Roots
> of English, by David Claiborne) serendipitously from a
> used bookstore - very interesting.
I envy you.

> First of all, how where the consonants bh, dh, and gh
> actually pronounced?  I can't really visualize it (or
> audio-lize it).
This question has been answered sufficiently, I think. Or at least, I have
nothing to add.

> Second, where can I find a complete list of PIE roots,
> not just those that English has taken a word from?  I
> am trying to make some new branches of the IE family
> and it would be biased toward English to only use
> those roots.  So far any source I have found including
> the section in the back of the American HEritage
> Dictionary have only English roots.
Yes, I've used that, too. A great source with three major disadvantages:
- it is not very convenient to work with in this sense that every word requires
a lot of mouseclicking;
- it gives Indo-European as far as they are connected to English. That's the
trouble you get when collecting roots from etymological dictionaries;
- it is incomplete.

The Pokorny link Danny gave (http://iiasnt.leidenuniv.nl/) is definitely very
useful. They are really doing great things there in Leiden. A few days ago, I
discovered an online Tocharian B dictionary! (I would buy the book, but 207 $
or € seems to be a lot for a book).

Christopher Gwinn used to have a great list of (ca. 2000 IIRC) PIE roots. The
link seems to be dead now, but since I am on a list of which he is the
listowner, I guess I can ask him where it went). Anyhow, I might have made
downloaded it when it was still there. I must check it at work. If I find it,
I'll send it to you privately.

Just bear in mind, that there is no uniform version of an Indo-European root.
In fact, every Indo-Europeanist has his own style and methods, giving sometimes
quite differing results.

> I've spent the last few English classes using the list of roots to
> create a new language, Quaroeth.
Cool! I want to see that language! Grammar, especially...

> As a parting shot a pithy Quaroeth maxim shamelessly
> plagiarized from english:
>
> Miquotu quiriiri um buyardotum iholual oak.
>
> Grass   greener  in side       other   is.
More! More!

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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