prat(t) (but not Siouan)

[Koontz John E]

On Fri, 6 Aug 2004, ROOD DAVID S wrote:
> Germanic /p/ should correspond to Latin /b/, not /f/ (slippery,
> lubricus), and where's the Latin equivalent of the /t/??  I know my
> Indo-European is rusty, but this doesn't seem at all right.

I have the impression that native sources of p in German are rare.  Does
*/__r preserve PIE *p?

> I've been wondering whether "prattle" is a pejorative diminutive
> of this word.  There aren't very many of those in English.

I think Bob Rankin once suggested scat :: skittle, cf. shit.  (I don't
think sk in skittle could be native English, however.)