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<P class=MsoNormal>Greetings,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Bill Baxter and I are interested in the history of words for
'cotton', especially Dempwolff's Ur-Austronesisch *kapat' (=*kapas in Dyen's
orthography) 'cotton', reconstructed on the basis of:</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Toba batak hapas 'cotton'</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Javanese, Malay, Nadju Dayak kapas 'cotton'</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Fidji kava 'string'</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Tonga, Futuna kafa 'string'</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Tree cotton, Gossypium arboreum,<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>is said to be native to the Indian
subcontinent, and a word for 'cotton' very close to Dempwolff's reconstruction
has spread far to the West, indeed to Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic
(see Buck 1949).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Related forms are
also found in eastern languages, particularly Austroasiatic and in Chinese. Bill
and I are interested in evaluating the likelyhood that Dempwolff's *kapat' was
really part of PMP because if that was the case that would place a terminum post
quem non on the date of spread of cotton to Island South-East Asia. We would be
grateful to hear how good Austronesianists think Dempwolff's cognate set is.
</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> Laurent <o:p></o:p></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>L. Sagart<BR>CRLAO<BR>54 Bd Raspail<BR>75270 Paris cedex
06<BR>France<BR>Tel: +33 1 49 54 24 18<BR>Fax: +33 1 49 54 26
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