Loaded "HOW LIKELY" questions

proto-language proto-language at email.msn.com
Fri Mar 24 18:52:20 UTC 2000


Dear Steve and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: <X99Lynx at aol.com>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 8:22 AM

> In a message dated 3/16/2000 1:51:59 AM, g_sandi at hotmail.com wrote:

 <snip>

> How likely is it that the unattested *kwekwlos was applied to the wheel
> independently in two different IE languages, [alledgedly] quite distant
> from one another" and therefore alledgedly not in contact?  If by that you
> mean, how likely is it that two peoples speaking very similar languages with
> the same word for something circular would both independently describe the
> wheel as being circular - well, the better question is probably: why wouldn't
> they?

[PR]
I have been following this interesting discussion from the sidelines.

I would like to offer a couple of ideas in this context:

1) I believe the root of *kwekw-lo- should be emended to *k^wek^w-lo- on the
strength of the palatal responses in Old Indian;

2) I believe the root **k^wel- is related to **k^wej6-, and that the common
semantic factor is 'curl';

3) I believe that it is likely that **k^wek^w-lo-, based on its proposed (by
me) semantics, refers to the spoked wheel, the integral part of which is the
felloe, 'curled around' the spokes;

4) Since solid wheels preceded spoked wheels, and certainly presumably were
the wheels used for the ox-carts of the roaming Indo-Europeans, and were not
semantiacally appropriate for a term like **k^wek^w-lo-, it would seem to me
that the term should be put into a time context at which *spoked* wheels are
attested.

Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN | PROTO-LANGUAGE at email.msn.com (501) 227-9947 * 9115 W. 34th
St. Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES: PROTO-LANGUAGE:
http://www.geocities.com/proto-language/ and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/proto-language/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit ek,
at ek hekk, vindga meipi, nftr allar nmu, geiri undapr . . . a ~eim meipi er
mangi veit hvers hann af rstum renn." (Havamal 138)



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