the Wheel and Dating PIE

[Rick Mc Callister]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

	I get the impression that the word goes back to a root meaning
"round", giving rise to a set of secondary roots
	*ker-, (s)ker- "to bend", root of "circle" [cw]
	*kwel- "to revolve", root of "cycle", "wheel" [cw]
	*bhel- listed as "to blow, inflate, puff up" --which makes sense--
but why not influeced by *kwel- in derivatives such as ball

	In any case, all of these roots, with the possible exception of
*wegh-, would seem to go back before the invention of the wheel

[snip]

>-- PIE *kwekwlom (pl. kwekwleha) -- wheel

>>From which:

>Old English:  hweogol (note characteristic Germanic *k ==> h)
>Sanskrit:       cakra
>Greek:          kuklo
>Tocharian:     kukal  ('wagon')
>etc.

>PIE *hwergh -- wheel

>Hittite:         hurki
>Tocharian:    yerkwanto

	this looks as if it could be cognate with *kwekwl-o- "circle" [cw],
if /kw/ > /hw/ & /l/ > /r/

>PIE *rotho -- wheel

	Watkins gives *ret- "to roll, run"

>Plus, of course, PIE *ueghnos, 'wagon', *uoghos, 'wagon' and the related
>*ueghitlom, 'vehicle', which produce:

	Watkins gives *wegh- "to go, transport in a vehicle"

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701