Re: languages of pre-I.E. Europe and onwards

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
> Hallo!
[snip]
> Yes.  One cognate set is no cognate set.  You can always find
> chance similarities.
Like modern Greek _mati_ = 'eye' and Malay/Indonesian _mata_ = 'eye'
both derived of course from Proto-Helleno-Malayan    :-D

> In order to prove a relationship between
> languages, you need at least about 100 cognate sets displaying
> regular sound correspondences.
... and the _regular_ sound change bit is important. So many of the
supposed correspondences are thrown together in a haphazard way.
====================================

Eric Christopherson wrote:
[snip]
 >
 > (I have wondered if the Latin -alis adjective ending might be related to
 > or derived from the Etruscan -al genitive, but if so I think it could
 > easily be borrowed.)

Quite so. After all, English readily uses the feminine suffix -ess
borrowed from French, and the French diminutive ending -ette is
productive (e.g. 'kitchenette'), but that doesn't make English a Romance
language.

--
Ray
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