Re: Delexicalization of left & right

>"Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...> wrote:
>By way of Latin, surely?  Are there any native English cognates of
>"dexter" left?  (Or "right", even?  Ha ha!)
Yes, by way of *deks plus a suffix > *deks(i)-tero-.  The only
English words from this PIE root are dexter (dexterity), dextro-,
destrier, ambidexter.

Interestingly, *-tero- is used as a PIE suffix indicating one of two:
*antero-, other of two, < *anyo-, other.
*kwotero-, who of two, < *kwo-, who.

It is also used as a suffix on two of the directions:
*austero-, eastern, < *aus-, east.
*westero-, western, < *wes-, west.

And, it is the PIE suffix for the comparative:
*wi-, far, > *witero-, farther.

It is too bad that "sinister" is of an unknown origin.  Given the
(i) in the PIE root, we might have had something with "dexter"
and "sinister"!

Charlie