Etymology of Prague?

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Marc L. Greenberg wrote:

> Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
>
> > Would that cluster also include Germanic berg and Slavic *breg?
> > The b:b correspondence normally suggests PIE *bh (cf. bear vs.
> > b(i/e)r-at')...
>
> Right, the I.E. form would have been *bherg'ho-. The palatovelar
> suggested to Vasmer that Slavic *berg- was borrowed from Germanic,
> but I don't know that this assumption necessarily holds water (aside
> from the fact that a b(e)reg is designed to hold water). I don't know
> why Paliga skipped these obvious correspondences; in any event, I
> think his P-/B- are meant to be cover symbols for the reflex in "Old
> European" (~= Illyrian, Thracian, etc.), not I.E. proper.

The problem I'm having with it is that Slavic *b corresponds to Germanic
*p, not the other way around. So Slavic *breg could (but doesn't)
correspond to Germanic *perg if it came from PIE *breg, but Germanic
*berg could not correspond to Slavic *preg. The only places Slavic can
get a *p- are 1) through normal inheritance from PIE, corresponding to
Germanic *f-, 2) through borrowing. Now, of course, if Slavic borrowed
from Germanic after the consonant shift, it should have *p- via Germanic
*p- corresponding to Slavic *b- directly from PIE -- in other words, it
should have doublets with both consonants. Such a situation has occurred
with glava/golova etc., where one reflex has been borrowed back into
Russian from South Slavic and the other has been inherited directly. Do
we know of any *p-/*b- doublets *within* Slavic? This is critical for
the dating, because if the word entered PIE before Slavic and Germanic
split, it should follow the normal rules of development.

--
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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