INDETERMINACY IN ETYMOLOGY: RECONSTRUCTING THE PIE WORD FOR ‘SHEEP,’ WITH NOTES ALSO ON TOCHARIAN B ās ‘GOAT’ AND PIE h2éwis ‘BIRD’
INDETERMINACY IN ETYMOLOGY: RECONSTRUCTING THE PIE WORD FOR ‘SHEEP,’ WITH NOTES ALSO ON TOCHARIAN B ās ‘GOAT’ AND PIE h2éwis ‘BIRD’

Author(s): Douglas Q. ADAMS
Subject(s): Morphology, Lexis, Historical Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics
Published by: Artsürem Bilim Sanat Danışmanlık A.Ş (Artsürem Yayıncılık)
Keywords: Indo-European etymology; PIE laryngeals (*h₂; *h₃); ‘Sheep’ etymon (*h₂ówi- ~ *h₃ówi-); Acrostatic nouns; Lengthened-grade Athematic formations (Hitt. āss-; Skr. āsāt); Brugmann’s Law; Tocharian B (ās-); Anatolian evidence; Comparative method;
Summary/Abstract: The Indo-European word for ‘sheep’ is well-represented in most Indo-European groups. However, its exact shape in the proto-language is not as well-established as usually thought. The initial laryngeal has been reconstructed as *h1-, *h2-, or *h3- by various investigators and the noun’s accentual pattern often left undefined. The argument here is that we cannot reconstruct with certainty. It seems perhaps most likely that it was an acrostatic *h2ówi-/h2éwi- but Tocharian might also reflect either *h2ōwiand *h3ōwi- and, if the latter, *h3ówi-/h3éwi- would certainly be possible for other IndoEuropean groups. Knowing if PIE *h3- became χ- in Lycian would help delimit the number of indeterminacies but not solve the problem decisively. We will be left with multiple possibilities.

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