Re: proof that most etymologies are only fairy-tales

On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:30:33 +0200, Trond Engen
<trondnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:UOKdnQnVOfIDjDvV4p2dnAA@xxxxxxxxxxx> in sci.lang:

[...]

Anyway, I do want to rerail the thread, so: I don't believe in *gwer, if
that's the suggestion.

It's not.

*gw- (or rather *gW-) would yield Gmc. /kw-/, like in
Eng. <quern>. If I'm not too mistaken, the initial
cluster would have to be *gWh- to yield Gmc. /b-/, Lat.
/f-/ and Gk. /tH-/, and even that is uncertain in the
case of Germanic.

The root in question is *g'Hwer-; Lithuanian <z^ve.rìs>
'beast' shows that it has *g'Hw, not *g'WH. (Ringe assumes
that in PGmc. *g'Hw- would have fallen together with *gWH-
to yield *gWH- > *gW- > *b-; this would apparently be the
only example of *g'Hw- at all, though there are examples of
*gWH-.) Latin /f-/ isn't a problem: /f-/ is the regular
outcome of PIE *g'Hw- (and indeed of *g'H- before *u as
well).

[...]

Brian
.

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