Latin perfects and Fluent Etruscan in 30 days!

[Damien Erwan Perrotin]

PATRICK C. RYAN wrote

>There is a *H{2}am- in Pokorny meaning 'grasp'. But, like Pokorny, I believe
>this is probably the basis for the entries under *me:-.

true, but Pokorny's work is from 1959, when Lydian was not fully known
and its IE character was not recognized by everyone. Breton is not very
much known outside Celtic countries and most scholars use Welsh instead
(where Afan is not recorded). And a true Breton Etymological Dictionnary
has still to be written. So that *am was mostly known through Latin,
what restricted comparative study.
As for me, I would favor an H2em etymology. An evolution from grasp to
kiss is well recorded in French and the evolution from "love" to "kiss"
well recorded in Slavic tongues.

>(...) I propose that IE *H and AA *? are the results of Nostratic *?  but that
>AA *?(i/a) produced Egyptian j.

That is possible,( I am not a specialist of AA) but I would like to see
cognates from other AA tongues which would have never been in contact
with IE tongues. Egyptian has come into contact with Anatolian tongues
(which did have the root), Indian tongues (in Mitanni and, shortly, in
Syria), and some tongues of the Egean which could be related to IE
(philistine, Cretan), this to avoid borrowing from either side, or from
another source

Damien Erwan Perrotin