andera 'woman' Celtic ?

[Patrick C. Ryan]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

Dear Rich and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick C. Ryan <proto-language at email.msn.com>
To: <Indo-European at xkl.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 1999 1:27 PM
Subject: Re: andera 'woman' Celtic ?

<snip>

> Are we being quite fair here? There is Old Indian na'ri: and Avestan
> na:iri:, 'lady (?).

> [ Moderator's response:
>   The long vowel in the first syllable marks this as a late formation in
>   Indic.  It therefore provides no evidence for a "feminine" in the proto-
>   language.
>   --rma ]

Not sure I follow. Would not *HnVr lead to *nV:r?

[ Moderator's response:
  In Indo-Iranian, *HC > C, for all values of H & C.  The long vowel in _na:r_,
  the nominative singular, is original (i. e., can be reconstructed for PIE),
  and has been explained as compensatory lengthening in the proto-language when
  the nominative ending *-s was lost after resonants.  The long vowel seen in
  _na:ri:_ is, on the other hand, not confirmed by the other dialects, and can
  be the result of taking the nominative singular as the starting point of the
  derivation.
  --rma ]

 Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN (501) 227-9947; FAX/DATA (501)312-9947 9115 W. 34th St.
Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803 and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/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)