Re: The monumental stupidity of PIE theorists further illustrated
- From: analyst41@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:01:13 -0700 (PDT)
Here is another fairy tale from Calvert Watkins:
start quote:
A number of Indo-European languages show a similar word for the
kinship term “daughter-in-law”: Sanskrit snu, Old English snoru, Old
Church Slavonic snkha (Russian snokhá), Latin nurus, Greek nuós, and
Armenian nu. All of these forms, called cognates, provide evidence for
the phonetic shape of the prehistoric Indo-European word for “daughter-
in-law” that is their common ancestor. Sanskrit, Germanic, and Slavic
agree in showing an Indo-European word that began with sn-. We know
that an Indo-European s was lost before n in other words in Latin,
Greek, and Armenian, so we can confidently assume that Latin nurus,
Greek nuós, and Armenian nu also go back to an Indo-European *sn-.
(Compare Latin nix [stem niv-], “snow,” with English SNOW, which
preserves the s.) This principle is spoken of as the regularity of
sound correspondences; it is basic to the sciences of etymology and
comparative linguistics. 16
Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and Armenian agree in showing the first
vowel as -u-. We know from other examples that Slavic regularly
corresponds to Sanskrit u and that in this position Germanic o (of Old
English snoru) has been changed from an earlier u. It is thus
justifiable to reconstruct an Indo-European word beginning *snu-.
17
For the consonant originally following *snu-, closer analysis is
required. The key is furnished first by the Sanskrit form, for we know
there is a rule in Sanskrit that s always changes to (a sh-like
sound) after the vowel u. Therefore a Sanskrit snu- must go back to an
earlier *snus-. In the same position, after u, an old -s- changes to
kh (like the ch in Scottish loch or German ach) in Slavic; hence the
Slavic word, too, reflects *snus-. In Latin always, and in Germanic
under certain conditions, an old -s- between vowels changed to -r-.
For this reason Latin nurus and Old English snoru may go back to older
*snus- (followed by a vowel) as well. In Greek and Armenian, on the
other hand, an old -s- between vowels disappeared entirely, as we know
from numerous instances. Greek nuós and Armenian nu (stem nuo-) thus
regularly presuppose the same earlier form, *snus- (followed by a
vowel). All the comparative evidence agrees, then, on the Indo-
European root form *snus-. 18
For the ending, the final vowels of Sanskrit snu, Old English
snoru, and Slavic snkha all presuppose earlier - (*snus-), which is
the ordinary feminine ending of these languages. On the other hand,
Latin nurus, Greek nuós, and Armenian nu (stem nuo-) all regularly
presuppose the earlier ending *-os (*snus-os). We have an apparent
impasse; but the way out is given by the gender of the forms in Greek
and Latin. They are feminine, even though most nouns in Latin -us and
Greek -os are masculine. 19
Feminine nouns in Latin -us and Greek -os, since they are an
abnormal type, cannot have been created afresh; they must have been
inherited. This suggests that the original Indo-European form was
*snusos, of feminine gender. On the other hand, the commonplace freely
formed ending for feminine nouns was *-. It is reasonable to suggest
that the three languages Sanskrit, Germanic, and Slavic replaced the
peculiar feminine ending *-os (because that ending was normally
masculine) with the normal feminine ending *-, and thus that the
oldest form of the word was *snusos (feminine). 20
One point remains to be ascertained: the accent. Of those four
language groups that reflect the Indo-European accent—Sanskrit, Greek,
(Balto-)Slavic, and Germanic—the first three agree in showing a form
accented on the last syllable: snu, nuós, snokhá. The Germanic form is
equally precise, however, since the rule is that old -s- went to -r-
(Old English snoru) only if the accented syllable came after the -
s-. 21
On this basis we may add the finishing touch to our
reconstruction: the full form of the word for “daughter-in-law” in
Indo-European is *snusós. 22
It is noteworthy that no single language in the family preserves
this word intact. In every language, in every tradition in the Indo-
European family, the word has been somehow altered from its original
shape. It is the comparative method that permits us to explain the
different forms in this variety of languages by the reconstruction of
a unitary common prototype, a common ancestor.
end quote.
Simple explanation:
The Sanskrit is orginal - Slavic changed it slightly during contact-
acquistion. The Greek etc. are from something entirely different.
We just saw an example with Arabic Julhara/Jawhara and English jewel -
it even seemed like there was "systematic sound change" in
French,Italian and Spanish from Arabic and yet there was a more
credible explanation of the descent of the Romance language words from
a Latin word which didn't mean "Jewel" at all !
Once again pure aesthetics governs snusha, Usha etc. - they are more
euphonic and cultivated to Indian ears than snusa Usa etc.
Since there is no evidence of Sanskrit having ever changed an
inherited sound from another language, we most certainly don't know
that
start quote
we know there is a rule in Sanskrit that s always changes to (a sh-
like sound) after the vowel u.
end quote.
and snusos is only a fairy tale.
.
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