Etymology of English 'black'
| From: | Emily Zilch <emily0@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, June 6, 2004, 18:55 |
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{ 20040606,0915 | Danny Wier }
"Arabic _lahab_ 'flame' might be related by a stretch of the
imagination; there would've had to have been metathesis, maybe *blh >
lhb. I doubt it seriously. Maybe _balq_ 'mica' might be a better
candidate, since mica is a shiny and smooth mineral."
And because [bh] is a UNITARY phoneme.
Sorry, don't mean to sound harsh, but there is no evidence (AFAIK) of
any metathesis happening involving PIE "aspirates" treating their
aspiration as separate bits.
em'ly
********
EMILY0
http://homepage.mac.com/cafewrack
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