Uniformitarianism and the Arrowwood

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/5/2001 2:55:01 AM, acnasvers at hotmail.com writes:
<< If you believe, like Renfrew, that these farmers (who entered Europe from
Anatolia) spoke PIE, then you must explain why "IE" *ebur- should have been
superseded by *eiw- in the north and by other words in the south and east.>>

Actually, I'd rather put the onus on you to justify the identification of
*ebur- or *eiw- with any particular modern tree classification.  I do not
doubt the phonology in the reconstructions.  I think that anyone who looks
closely will find that the meanings are anywhere as stable as you contend.

And of course this whole idea doesn't depend on the phonology.  It depends on
the meanings of these words.  What YOU must prove is that there's no chance
that the "yew" word would have changed if *PIE had had a yew word.  A lot of
evidence says that the word would have changed - possibly many times in 2000+
years.  But in the end you have no way of proving what such words meant in
the 2000+ years before ACTUAL attestation.  Because you have no direct
evidence at all.

<<If you and I belong to the same tribe, and we don't agree on what to call
trees in the next valley, then our use of language is dysfunctional. Do you
really believe that prehistoric humans were linguistically incompetent?>>

There's been some talk about a linguistic Uniformitarian Principle.  So let
me invoke it right now.

What actually happened when people gave names to trees, before modern
scientific classifications attempts to make them uniform?

Let's take the eastern US only, and pick a tree with a good practical name.
Near the top of the list of "common names" (non-scientific names) is
"ARROWWOOD" - kind of yew/bow tree in concept.  Maybe it means wood you'd
make arrows from or wood that looks like arrows.  Doesn't matter.

As a matter of the "Uniformitarian Principle" and an example of old fashion
American "non-dysfunctionality" (ha) we should see the ARROWWOOD stand for
one tree and one tree only.  Or we should stop expecting that the *PIE word
for YEW would have stood for one tree for 2000+ before that word would
actually be attested.

The answer is... STOP expecting one prehistoric name will equal one
prehistoric tree.  JUST take a look at how dysfunctional something as simple
as the "arrowwood" word can get:

"Arrowwood" #1 (Oxydendrum arboreum Ericaceae) - Other Names: sourwood, elk
tree, lily-of-the-valley tree, sorrel gum, sorrel tree, sour gum, titi, titi
tree.

"Arrowwood" #2 (Euonymus atropurpureus) - Other Names: wahoo, burningbush,
spindle tree, indian arrowwood, bursting-heart, strawberry-tree, strawberry
bush, American spindle tree, bitter ash, pegwood.

"Arrowwood" #3 (Viburnum dentatum, acerifolium, recognitum, pubescens) -
Other Names: southern arrowwood, northern arrowwood, smooth arrowwood,
withe-wood, downy arrowwood, viburnum, black haw, highbush cranberry,
maple-leaved viburnum, nannyberry, sheepberry, wild raisin.

"Arrrowwood" #4 (Rhamnaceae Rhamnus fragula) - Other Names: alder buckthorn,
black dogwood, glossy buckthorn, european buckthorn, black alder dogwood,
black alder tree, persian berries, european black alder, alder buckthorn.

"Arrowwood" #5 (Cornus florida L.) - Other Names: flowering dogwood, cornel,
boxwood, white cornel, cornelian tree, bunchberry, dogwood, false boxwood,
florida dogwood.

Check out all those tree names!!!  MAJOR dysfunction!

Based on this and an even generous application of the  "Uniformitarian
Principle", one would have to say the identification of prehistoric trees
with prehistoric names is not a very good bet.

Not something you'd want to use to identify the IE homeland, for sure.

Regards,
Steve Long