Wheel as an early loan.

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/25/00 11:20:10 PM, Sean Crist wrote:

**If it were borrowed from just one branch into another, I'd be willing to
entertain the idea that the loan was early enough for the crucial sound
changes not to have taken place, so that we couldn't identify the
borrowing. However, the PIE word for "wheel" is attested in most of the
branches of IE.  It is vanishingly improbable that the word could be a
loan word in all of these branches without ever showing any telltale
phonological signs of the borrowing in any of the branches.**

If the loan was "early enough for crucial sound changes not to have taken
place," then what "telltale phonological signs of borrowing" would you
expect?  Perhaps if we identified them, they can be looked for.

Regards,
Steve Long