Groucho Marxism

In a previous blog post I listed entries from the 1959 Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (IEW) with velars in different phonological environments. These data suggest that in palatalization of plain velars was blocked before *eiT, *o, and *r, and that labiovelars were delabialized after *s and before *H₂, *l, *m, and *u. In that blog post I only included entries with reflexes in at least two branches of both the centum and satem languages, where there is no uncertainty in the reconstruction, and where the velar only occurs in one phonological environment; and I excluded onomatopeic cases. Here I will investigate what happens if we relax the first condition and allow entries with reflexes in at least one branch of both the centum and satem languages. I will focus on velars in word-initial position.

There are eighteen entries with a plain velar after *s and before *e: *sked- ‘split’, *skeH₂i- ‘bright’, *skeH₁t- ‘jump’, *skeH₁u- ‘cut’, *skei- ‘cut’, *skel- ‘bend’, *skel- ‘dry’, *skep- ‘cut’, *sker-  ‘cut’, *sker- ‘jump’, *sker- ‘wrinkle’, *skerbh- ‘turn’, *skerdh- ‘pitiful’, *skert- ‘across’, *skeu-  ‘get ready’, *skeu- ‘sneeze’, *skeud- ‘throw’, and *skeud- ‘unwilling’. There are seven entries with a plain velar after mobile *s and before *e: *(s)kel- ‘stab’, *(s)kel- ‘hit’, *(s)kel- ‘call’, *(s)kerd- ‘gird’, *(s)kert- ‘turn’, *(s)keu- ‘pay’, and *(s)keuHd- ‘shout’. There is one example with a labiovelar after *s, *skʷalos ‘fish’, where the *a vocalism points to a wanderwort. This suggests that labiovelars were delabialized after *s. I will therefore exclude these cases from now on.

There are two entries with a plain velar before *eT, where T is any stop. The first, *ghed- ‘defecate’, should be reconstructed with a palatovelar; and the plain velar in the second, *ked- ‘smoke’, is reconstructed based on two Greek words that are probably unrelated to the other reflexes. There are four entries with a plain velar before *eiT: *geibh- ‘bend’, *geid- ‘stab’, *gheidh- ‘desire’, and *gheig̑h- ‘desire’. There is one entry with a palatovelar in this position, *g̑eid- ‘suck’, which is barely attested. There is one other entry with a plain velar before *ei, *keis- ‘arm’, where the plain velar is reconstructed based on three Dutch words that are probably unrelated to the other reflexes. This suggests that palatalization was blocked *eiT, but not before *eT or *ei when not followed by *T.

There are five entries with a plain velar before *el. The Greek reflexes of the first, *ghelH₂d- ‘ice’, point to a zero grade *ghlH₂d-; whereas the third, *kelH₁- ‘drive’, and fourth, *kelH₁u- ‘wander’, are probably derived from the root *kelH₁- ~ *kleH₁- ‘call’. In all three cases the root may have contained a labiovelar which was delabialized by the *l. The second, *ghelou- ‘turtle’, and fifth, *kelg- ‘wind’, are barely attested. There is one entry with a plain velar before *em, *gem- ‘grasp’, where the Baltic reflexes point to an original labiovelar which was delabialized before *m in the zero grade. There is one entry with a plain velar before *en, *ken- ‘appear’, where the Slavic reflexes point to an *o-grade where palatalization could have been blocked by the *o.

There are five entries with a plain velar before *er. The Baltic reflexes of the first, *ghers ‘weed’, third, *ker- ‘cherry’, and fifth, *kerm- ‘tire’, point to zero grade formations where palatalization would have been blocked by the *r. The second, *gherto- ‘milk’ could just as well be reconstructed with a labiovelar. The fourth, *kerd- ‘gird’, is probably derived from the root *(s)ker- ‘turn’, in which case it may have contained a labiovelar which was delabialized by the *s. There is one entry with a plain velar before *u, *gheubh- ‘bend’, where the Germanic reflexes point to a zero grade, so this may also have contained a labiovelar which was delabialized by the *u. There are no entries with a plain velar before *i. This suggests that plain velars were palatalized before *e and *i.

There nine entries with a plain velar before *o: *gol- ‘bald’, *ghoilos- ‘froth’, *ghom- ‘stall’, *ghostis ‘stranger’, *ghouros ‘horrible’, *ghou- ‘pay’, *kob- ‘fit’, *koros ‘war’, and *koselo- ‘hazel’. There are three entries with a palatovelar in this position. The Indic reflexes of the first, *k̑onk- ‘doubt’, point to an *e-grade where the velar could have been palatalized by the *e. The second, *k̑ongho- ‘mussel’, is probably not reconstructable for PIE as the phonological correspondence between the Indic and Greek reflexes is irregular. The same cannot be said of the third, *k̑ormo- ‘torment’, but we also cannot rule out the possibility of a an *e-grade formation existing here too. This suggests that palatalization was blocked before *o.

There are eighteen entries with a plain velar before *r: *grem- ‘damp’, *greus- ‘crumble’, *greus-  ‘burn’, *groHd- ‘hail’, *ghrebh- ‘scratch’, *ghredh- ‘stride’, *ghreib- ‘grip’, *ghrendh- ‘beam’, *ghreH₁u- ‘collapse’, *kred- ‘beams’, *kreH₁p- ‘strong’, *kreH₂u- ‘put’, *krei- ‘stroke’, *krep- ‘body’, *kret- ‘shake’, *kreuH₂- ‘blood’, *kreu- ‘thrust’, and *kreup- ‘scab’. There is one entry with a palatovelar in this position, *k̑rei- ‘shine’, which is barely attested and probably not reconstructable for PIE. This suggests that palatalization was blocked before *r. The blocking of palatalization before *r is well-known and is backed up by the gutturalwechsel (interchange between palatovelar and plain velar reflexes) in words such as *suekru- ~ *suekur- ‘in-law’.

There thirteen entries with a plain velar before *H₂: *ghH₂eit- ‘hair’, *kH₂eilo- ‘whole’, *kH₂el- ‘beautiful’, *kH₂elni- ‘narrow’, *kH₂emp- ‘bend’, *kH₂ento- ‘corner’, *kH₂epro- ‘he-goat’, *kH₂eput ‘head’, *kH₂er- ‘revile’, *kH₂er- ‘hard’, *kH₂et- ‘plait’, *kH₂et- ‘bear’, and *kH₂eu- ‘humble’. There are three entries with a plain velar before *l: *klem- ‘slack’, *kleno- ‘maple’, and *klHuo- ‘bald’. There are five entries with a plain velar before *u: *gues- ‘twig’, *guosdho- ‘nail’, *kuers- ‘wood’, *kuet- ‘ferment’, and *kuoi- ‘wish’. In contrast, there are no entries with a labiovelars in any of these positions. This suggests that labiovelars were delabialized before *H₂, *l, and *u, as well as before *m, as was suggested above.