*gwh in Gmc.
Rich Alderson
alderson+mail at panix.com
Tue Dec 19 20:00:40 UTC 2000
On 18 Dec 2000, Douglas G Kilday wrote:
> On the other hand I would remove "wolf"; Lat. <lupus> argues against a
> labialized stop. Gk. <lukos> probably results from taboo-substitution by an
> epithet 'bright-eyed', 'shining-eyed' or the like. I would refer "wolf" to
> PIE *wlpos. Making all attested forms into taboo-variants, as Mr. Watkins
> does, is an unnecessary shell-game.
Since Latin frequently borrowed vocabulary from p-Italic sources (cf. _bo:s_ <
*g{^w}o:ws), _lupus_ is irrelevant in an argument against a labiovelar here.
The /k/ in Greek _lukos_ is regulrly derived from *k{^w} ("labiovelars > velars
next to pre-Greek *u"), and the velars in the Slavic and Indic cognates
*require* a labiovelar.
Thus, your *wlpos poses more questions than it solves, in contradistinction to
the standard *wlk{^w}os.
Rich Alderson
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