IE "Urheimat" and evidence from Uralic linguistics

[Richard M. Alderson III]

On Tue, 8 Feb 2000, JoatSimeon at aol.com (S. M. Stirling) wrote:

>> petegray at btinternet.com writes:

>> Interestingly, these _failed_ to prove convincingly that Hittite was IE!
>> It was the rather obscure -r/-n heteroclite declension that was the final
>> clincher for some people.

> -- the first indication that Hittite was IE was a lexical term -- the word
> for "water", specifically.  ("watar")

This, or course, could have been a coincidence.  However, it was the form taken
by the genitive that was the clencher:  _wetnes^_, thus proving that the word
was an r/n heteroclit and related to Gk. _hudo:r, hudatos < *hudn.tos_ and
the various Germanic forms (Goth. _wato, watins_, Norw. _vatn_, Eng. _water_).

The lexicon was suggestive, the grammar was conclusive.

								Rich Alderson