OP /the/ vs. /dhaN/ (fwd)

[Rory M Larson]

Rory wrote:
> For 'hand', I still like the concept of it being a set
> of fingers.  Since *naNpe is newly adopted to mean 'hand'
> in MVS, could its original meaning have been 'finger'?
> This wouldn't affect 'foot', which is older, and probably
> was not derived as 'set of toes'.

I should have added that this hypothesis depends on OP tHe
going back approximately as far as MVS.  Perhaps John or
Bob could comment on whether that's possible?

Rory