indoeuropean/hand

[Steven A. Gustafson]

Patrick C. Ryan wrote:

> As for Etruscan *itu-, 'divide', I believe it is only attested in a Latin
> gloss; and we know these were not always reliable. For a Latin *ituare (does
> it exist? my dictionary is not large {?} enough to include it), it would
> seem to me that IE *ai-to-, 'portion', would provide a simpler source.

I don't believe there is an *ituare or *ituere attested in Latin.
Traditionally, according to Pliny the Elder, -idus- is related to the
root of -divido-, 'divide,' which is obviously di- added to *vido; and
that would also relate it to -vidua-, 'widow;' apparently the root
meaning, still present in Latin in the verb -viduo- was -separated-; and
this sense carried into French -vide-, 'empty'.  The loss of the v- in
-idus- would seem to me to present a problem with this traditional
explanation.

[On another topic; I checked Thurneysen's Old Irish grammar, and
apparently Old Irish did -not- count by scores; they formed the ordinal
eighties, nineties, and all the rest with a suffix -mogo, e.g.
-seachtmogo-, -ochtmogo-.  The Welsh dictionary -Y Geiriaddwr Mawr-
(sp?) gives eighty and ninety both ways; they seem somewhat simplified,
since they are not suffixed forms, but simply descriptive analytical
statements; ninety is merely -nau deg- or -pedwar ugain a deg-.]

--
Steven A. Gustafson, attorney at law
Fox & Cotner:  PHONE (812) 945 9600   FAX (812) 945 9615
http://www.foxcotner.com

Ecce domina quae fidet omnia micantia aurea esse, et scalam in
caelos emit.  Adveniente novit ipsa, etiamsi clausae sint portae
cauponum, propositum assequitur verbo.