Dating of Anatolian /nt/ vs. /nd/

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

iffr762 at utxvms.cc.utexas.edu wrote:

>	I take this opportunity to note that the same suffix, /-nth-/,
>also occurs in Pre-Greek words like

>			"asaminthos"	'bathtub'
>			"me:rinthos"	'thread'
>			"erebinthos"	'pea'
>			"olunthos"	'unripe fig'
>			"Huakinthos"	'Hyacinth'

>	where a meaning 'collective' seems improbable.

Quoting Friedrich's Hittite grammar:

Das Suffix -ant- ist in verscheidenen, noch nicht restlos klaren,
Verwendungen belegt [...]:

a) Es bildet Substantiva, hinter denen man

1. Kollektiva vermutet: utne:- "Land" und utne:yant- "Land (in
seinem Gesamtfassung)", tuzzi- "Heer" und tuzziyant-
"Heeresmasse", antuhsatar "Menschheit" und antuhsannant- [..]
"Bevoelkerung", parn- "Haus" und parnant- "Hauswesen" [..]
Anm.: Laroche [..] sieht in dieser Gruppe vielmehr Singulative
[..]

2. Eine besonder Gruppe bilden Zeitbestimmungen, vor allem
Bezeichnungen von Jahreszeiten: hamesh(a)- un hameshant-
"Fruehjahr", gim- und gimmant- "Winter" [..].  Goetze sieht in
den Formen auf -ant- Bezeichnungen der Zeitdauer (wie in frz.
anne'e, journe'e neben an und jour).

3. In vielen Faellen unterscheiden sich Gruntwort und Ableitung
auf -ant- bedeutungsmaessig gar nicht von einander: sankunni- und
sankunniyant- "Priester", huhha- und huhhant- "Grossvater",
hilammar und hilamnant "Torbau", eshar und eshanant- "Blut",
uttar und uddanant "Wort, Sache", kast- und kistant- "Hunger".
Anm.: Innerhalb dieser Gruppe koennen eine Anzahl
Koerperteilnamen besonders zusammengefaesst werden: kalulupa- und
kalulupant- "Finger", tapuwas- und tapuwassant- "Rippe, Seite",
hasta:i- und hastiyant- "Knochen", sankuwai- und sankuwayant-
"Fingernagel" [..]

b) Auch von Adjektiven gibt es mit dem Grundwort gleichbedeutende
Weiterbildungen auf -ant-: assu- und assuwant- "gut", irmala- und
irmalant- "krank", suppi- und suppiyant- "rein", dapiya- und
dapiyant- "ganz" [..]

2. Vielleicht sind aber auch adjektivische Ableitungen auf -ant-
von substantivischen Grundwoertern anzuerkennen: perunant-
"felsig" von peruna- "Fels", kaninant- "durstig" von kanint-
"durst" [..]
Anm.: Hierher oder zu $49 d [-want-]: akuwant- "steinig" von aku-
"Stein".

[Some of the words mentioned under point 3. may be showing the
"ergative" suffix -ant-, used when an inanimate (neuter) noun is
used as subject of a transitive verb].
[The suffix -want- means "having, provided with": samankurwant-
"bearded" (zamankur "beard") kistuwant- "hungry" (kast-
"hunger"), also esharwant- "blood red" (eshar "blood")]

Under (Cuneiform) Luwian, Friedrich notes:

"-(a)nt- und -(a)nti- ist zur Bildung von Ableitungen ebenso
haeufig wie im Heth.: parnant- "Haus", tiyammanti- "Erde",
tappasanti- "Himmel", apparanti- "Zukunft", urant- "gross".

The general Luwian plural suffix -nzi (acc./dat. -nza, abl./ins.
-nzati, gen. -nzan (?)) is also derived from *-nt (Friedrich
compares Tocharian and Slavic [Russ. kotenok, kotjata < *-enta])

>	It is also true that the element /parna-/ in "Parnassos", which
>occurs on both sides of the Aegean, is recognized as pre-IE, so if the
>first element in such words can be from a common substrate, why can't the
>second element also be from a common substrate?

I don't happen to think that parna- is necessarily non-IE.  In
Hittite it's an irregular noun (pir < *perr < *pern, parnas <
*porn-os), which doesn't fit the loanword theory too well.  And
the only external source I've ever seen mentioned is Egyptian
<pr> which doesn't seem appropriate either geographically or
phonetically (no -n in Egyptian, and Eg. /r/ < *l.  Why not pick
on Grk. <polis>?)

>	But the main thing is that there is no sound-sequence in Anatolian
>which we would expect to be borrowed into Greek as /-nth-/.

Whether Hittite <nt> was /ntt/ (/nt/) or /nt/ (/nd/) is not
recoverable in any way from the orthography.  Maybe Lycian and
Lydian spellings a millennium later show /nd/ (is that what
Palmer is going on?), but that doesn't prove much about the
situation as it was when pre-Greek borrowed these words from some
Anatolian-like language spoken in Greece.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam