PAN (was Re: "Wife" (was: Homosexuality etc.)

John Cowan wrote:
>
> Y'know, "PAN" is a weird acronym, as if the "n" were part of the suffix
> instead of being epenthetic.
True.  But IIRC, by Dempwolff's time, "PA" was already in use for
Bloomfield's "Proto Algonquian".  Perhaps also Proto Altaic.  I think
Dempwolff comments somewhere on his choice (though not on the
abbreviation)-- Malayo-Polynesian was a little old-fashioned and inexact
(omitting the Philippines and vast numbers of other Oceanic langs.).  And he
may have known just enough about Formosa to realize that better data from
those langs. would ultimately require revisions to his reconstruction.