StefanHöfler Notesonthree“acrostatic”neuter stems...298 StefanHöfler Itmay,however,benotedthatsomeofthealleged“Narten”rootsshowavery basicrootstructure*√CeC.Theremighthavebeenatendencytoavoidzerogrades

Stefan HoumlflerNotes on three ldquoacrostaticrdquo neuter s-stemsAbstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the three possible ldquoacrostaticrdquoneuter s-stems mēd-es- sēd-es- and h₁ēd-es- and their various continuantsand derivatives within the IE daughter languages I will argue that their length-ened root vowel is neither a result of a nominal ē ĕ ablaut pattern nor due tosystematic root-inherent characteristics but can in principle be explained indi-vidually as the product of a secondary remodeling in analogy to verbal formationswhere a lengthened grade was regular

Keywords acrostatic s-stems Narten roots μήδεα γῆρας siacuted saeligtr sēdēs sersih₁ed

Stefan Houmlfler Universitaumlt Wien hoefles6univieacat

1 IntroductionThe neuter s-stem nouns represent one of the best-established word formationcategories within the Indo-European languages As a distinct stem class they arepreserved in Indo-Iranian in Anatolian in Greek in Latin in Old Irish and inthe Slavic languages in some of them even to this day Usually they reflect fullgrade in the root throughout the paradigm whereas the suffix shows ablaut fromo-grade in the nom-acc sg to e-grade in the oblique stem Based on his interpre-tation of different relic forms Schindler (1975c) argued that this paradigm (hence-forth called the ldquostandard paradigmrdquo e g ueacuteku-os ueacuteku-es- lsquoword speechrsquo) re-placed an older proterokinetic pattern (e g ueacuteku-s uku-eacutes-) Even though someaspects of his argumentation have been criticized until recently1 Schindlerrsquos as-sumptions remain the basis for todayrsquos communis opinio concerning the ablautpattern of neuter s-stem nouns11 At the end of his paper Schindler mentioned that there could have beens-stems of the acrostatic type B (i e R(ḗ)-S(oslash) R(eacute)-S(oslash)-)2 as well consideringforms that reflect lengthened grade in the root or pairs with root vowel alterna-tions such as Skt gas lsquosinrsquo ( Gk ἄγος lsquoguilt cursersquo) Skt vsas lsquogarmentrsquo Skt

1 Cf e g Litscher 2007 Hartmann 20122 Cf for this type Eichner 1973 68f

101515if-2014-0016Bereitgestellt von | Vienna University Library University of Vienna

AngemeldetHeruntergeladen am | 171214 1333

294 Stefan Houmlfler

vhas lsquoconveyingrsquo Gk γῆρας lsquoold agersquo ( γέρας lsquogift of honourrsquo) Gk ἦϑος lsquocustomhabitrsquo ( ἔϑος lsquoidrsquo) Gk μήδεα and μέδεα pl lsquomale genitalsrsquo Gk ῥῆγος (also ῥέγος)lsquorug blanketrsquo and OIr siacuted (sḗdos) lsquofairy moundrsquo3

These root vowel alternations can in principle be explained as a result ofa paradigmatic split The long vowel forms are believed to be the continuants ofthe strong stemwhile thewords reflecting a short vowel would then continue theroot ablaut of the oblique stem In terms of heuristics this scenario is parallel tothe root vowel alternation ĕ oslash that we find in a pair like Ved vaacuteras- lsquowidthrsquo Veduacuteras- lsquobreastrsquo whose existence can be explained via a paradigmatic split of theunderlying proterokinetic s-stem (h₁)ueacuterH-os (h₁)urH-eacutes-4

In the following years some of these ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems have been moreplausibly explained through various phonological or morphological develop-ments andor different etymologies (cf Houmlfler 2012 for an exhaustive overview)However Schindlerrsquos mere mentioning the possibility of their existence has con-sequently led to a broad acceptance of this type of neuter s-stems among manyscholars to this day5

One canhowever raise several objections against ldquoacrostaticrdquoneuter s-stemsor at least against the notion of ldquoacrostaticrdquo6 used for the group of s-stems thatseemingly reflect an ē e root ablaut First andmaybe worst of all is the basis onwhich this assumption was arrived at namely themere vowel alternation7 ē e Itis true that this vowel alternation is crucial to the identification of words that wecategorize as acrostatic nouns of the type B Additionally however these wordsusually reflect the expected zero grade of the suffix as in ḗku-r eacuteku-n-s lsquoliverrsquowhere the root ablaut as well as zero-grade suffix -r in the nom-acc sg are

3 Examples cited after Schindler 1975c 2674 Cf Nowicki 1976 27 Stuumlber 2002 1865 Cf for example more or less unanimously Schaffner 2001 77f and 587 Stuumlber 2002 22 andpassim Widmer 2004 50 Casaretto 2004 553f Hartmann 2012 796 It is unwise and misleading to use the term ldquoacrostaticrdquo not only for the accent-ablaut classesacrostatic A (viz R(oacute)-S(oslash) R(eacute)-S(oslash)-) and acrostatic B (viz R(ḗ)-S(oslash) R(eacute)-S(oslash)-) of the standardmodel (for this cf Eichner 1973 91 note 33 Schindler 1975c 262ndash4 and also Meier-Bruumlgger 2002203ff for a historical overview as well as Widmer 2004 49ff) but also for nouns with a columnalaccent on the root syllable as a result of secondary remodeling e g the s-stems following thestandard paradigm (as done by Hartmann 2012 52 et passim)7 It would in turn be bold to assume the existence of s-stems of the acrostatic type A that iswith the root ablaut o e only because of the root vowel alternation of pairs like Gk ὄχος lsquochariotrsquoand the Hesychius gloss ἔχεσφι ἅρμασιν (dat pl) where the o-vocalism of the former is bestexplained through analogy after a thematic noun of the same meaning ὄχος m (e g hCer 19) orὄχᾱ f (Myc wo-ka cf Panagl 1982 154ndash6) For similar analogical processes within Latin see alsobelow note 28

Bereitgestellt von | Vienna University Library University of ViennaAngemeldet

Heruntergeladen am | 171214 1333

Notes on three ldquoacrostaticrdquo neuter s-stems 295

confirmed by Gk ἧπαρ and Av yākarə (lt ḗku-r) and Ved yaacutekṛ-t Lat iecur andNPers ǰigar (lt eacuteku-r) The zero-grade suffix of the oblique is reflected by gen sgVed yaknaacutes Gk ἥπατος Lat iecinis (lt eacuteku-n-es) and the stem of the remodeledfem pl OLith jẽknos8 Our group of ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems however lacks this im-portant feature9 Insteadwe find the plain o e suffixal ablaut thatwe know fromthe standard paradigm of neuter s-stems In fact there seems to be no differenceat all between the descendants of the proterokinetic type s-stems and our groupof ldquoacrostaticrdquo ones One could of course argue that both inflectional types hadalready merged into the standard pattern in Proto-Indo-European times but wewould then hope for at least some evidence other than the long vowel to supportthe assumption of ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems in the first place

In fact we do have s-stems other than the proterokinetic standard ones andthe unjustly labeled ldquoacrostaticrdquo ones but there is hardly any trace whatsoever ofthe fact that some of those coalesced into one category in PIE or in einzelsprach-lich times There are hysterokinetic s-stems appearing predominantly as second

8 Reconstruction and forms after Eichner 1973 68f Schindler 1975b 5f Schaffner 2001 77Cf NIL 392ndash95 for a collection of various other suggestions (with lit) and also for the peculiaroccurrence of R(o) as in Lat gen sg iocineris iocinoris etc De Vaan (2003 68f) argues that Avyākarəmight only be an error or occasional lengthening in the manuscript9 The only s-stem for which such an analysis is in principle acceptable is the pair Gk γῆραςlsquoold agersquo (Il+) and γέρας lsquogift of honourrsquo (Il+) which could individually continue the strong andthe weak stem of an acrostatic neuter ǵḗrh₂-s ǵeacuterh₂-s- However it is far more plausible thatthe form with the lengthened vowel is an inner-Greek innovation Greek must have inheritedregular γέρας lt ǵeacuterh₂-smeaning lsquoold agersquo (for which cf also γεραιός lsquooldrsquo [Il+] later analogicallyγηραιός [Hes+] and also Ved jaraacutes- [m or] f lsquoold agersquo [RV+]) which was remodeled in analogyto the aorist ἐγήρᾱ (for which cf Peters 1980 314 note 259) to γῆρας The original form γέραςwas consequently restricted to the specialized meaning lsquogift of honourrsquo (thus also Stuumlber 200283f Meissner 2006 82) This instance of analogical interference can be compared to the pairβένϑος lsquodepthrsquo (Il) βάϑος lsquoidrsquo (Ion-Att) where the former is the regular variant in the Iliadbut later only found in poetry while the latter is absent in Homer but later on appears veryfrequently (cf Meissner 2006 65ndash67 for the attestations) and owes its shape to the associatedadjective βαϑύς lsquodeep highrsquo (Il+) in which the zero grade is regular An even closer examplemight be the pair πένϑος lsquogrief sorrow mourningrsquo (Il+) πάϑος lsquosuffering incident experienceimpressionrsquo (Aesch+) semantically overlapping but not synonymous (cf Meissner 2006 67f forthe attestations and semantics) the latter of which seems to have been influenced by the aoristἔπαϑον (thus Stuumlber 2002 46) There are several more examples like these (cf also Stuumlber 200246ndash50 Meissner 2006 65ndash72) that collectively suggest that a secondary remodeling of γέρας toγῆρας after ἐγήρᾱ etc is fairly reasonable




members of compounds10 andamphikinetic s-stemsmostly as collectives11 bothof which seem systematically connected to the proterokinetic ones via internalderivation There is no indication of a comparable derivational dependence con-cerning the ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems

One important question that has to be taken into account is What would anoriginal acrostatic s-stem look like Let us consider for instance Ved vsas lsquogar-mentrsquo It clearly belongs to the root radicues12 lsquo[Kleidung] anhaben bekleidet seinmitrsquo Due to the lengthened grade in the root the noun has sometimes been la-beled an ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stem (cf e g Nowicki 1976 116 Stuumlber 2002 171f) How-ever the PIE ancestor of this s-stem should then at some time have been noneother than nom-acc sg uḗs-s gen sg ueacutes-s-s Since geminated (and likewisealso triple) s was reduced to a single s (cf Mayrhofer 1986 120f) the outcomewould have been uḗs ueacutes In view of language economy13 I see no motivationin the heads of PIE speakers to generate such a form in the first place But if theydid and conceding that they may have already introduced the gen sg ending-os therefore uḗs ueacutes-os I see no reasonwhy this word should not have beenconceived as a root noun right away because synchronically there was no intelli-gible suffix anymore and thus leaving no trace whatsoever of the former s-steminflection14

10 For example h₁su-men-eacutes- in Ved sumaacutenas- Av humanah- Gk εὐμενής and various forma-tions in the daughter languages but also uncompounded as possessive adjectives cf Ved apaacutes-lsquobusyrsquo ( aacutepas- lsquoworkrsquo) and Gk ψευδής lsquomendaciousrsquo ( ψεῦδος lsquoliersquo) for which cf Schaffner 2001585f Stuumlber 2002 27 Widmer 2004 31f and 65f as well as the simplex Lat Cerēs -eris lsquoCeresgoddess of agriculture etcrsquo and some other forms11 For example Avman lt meacuten-ōs as the synchronic nom-acc pl ofmanah- lsquomind thoughtrsquo ltmeacuten-os but also substantives without an evident collective meaning such as h₂eacuteus-ōs gt Veduṣaacutes- Av ušah- Gk (Ion) ἠώς lsquodawnrsquo etc for which cf Stuumlber 2002 22ndash6 Widmer 2004 30 and111ff Houmlfler 201312 LIVsup2 692f13 One significant difference between other athematic acrostatic nouns and the alleged ldquoacro-staticrdquo s-stems is that the suffix -s- was unable to become vocalic and could not serve as asyllable nucleus Therefore ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems would hypothetically be monosyllabic both inthe nom-acc sg and in the oblique stem which would clearly separate them on the surface fromthe regular disyllabic acrostatic substantives (e g i-stems u-stems rn-heteroclites etc)14 The general assertion followed in this paper viz that lengthened grades in verbal formationshad an analogical influence on short-vowel s-stems and then gave rise to long-vowel equivalentsappears to be illicit in this case since there seem to be no long-vowel verbal formations of thisroot in Indo-Iranian or elsewhere (except for irregular full grades in vaacuteste lsquowearsrsquo etc cf Schindler1994 398) However Malzahn (2010 896f) has suggested that while Toch B waumls- lsquodon wear(clothes)rsquo points to a non-Narten root aorist us-to the fem pl gerundive Toch A waṣlaṃmustbe derived from a thematic present with a pre-Proto-Tocharian long root vowel This provides us




It is therefore fairly safe to project that the origin of our ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stemsmust be relatively recent and date back to a point when the standard paradigmhad already evolved which means that at the same point the proterokinetic in-flectional pattern had already become obsolete It would seem only reasonable toaccept that also the acrostatic pattern had at that time lost its systematic validityreducing the possibility of newly formed ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems to absurdity12 Two decades later Schindler (1994) offered an alternative explanation forlong-vowel s-stemsby suggesting the existence of ldquoNartenrdquoroots ndash roots that showa systematic ablaut ē ĕ in verbal and nominal formations instead of the commonĕ oslash pattern15

Following and elaborating his theory the long-vowel s-stems would nolonger hint at an original acrostatic paradigm but present nothing else than theusual proterokinetic type The languages that exhibit a lengthened root vowelwould have generalized the strong stem of the noun (e g sḗd-os) where thelong ē would have been the regular full grade of the ldquoNartenrdquo root while theforms with a short ĕ would continue the weak stem (e g sĕd-eacutes-) ĕ being thereduced grade of the root

It is obvious that this explanation has certain advantages as it gets alongwithout the problematic assumption of two different accent-ablaut types thatwould have merged into one and the same paradigm However the assumptionof two different types of roots is not at once compelling and indeed there areseveral examples to prove the opposite We find for example zero grades ofalleged ldquoNartenrdquo roots that are just as suspicious as the notorious lengthenedgrades And as Schindler himself admits ldquoFuumlr das Material bestehen natuumlrlichz T Alternativerklaumlrungenrdquo16

with a possible source for the analogical influence and may also explain the long-vowel formsToch B yesti lsquogarmentrsquo (as if lt uḗst-o cf Malzahn 2004 217) and Welsh gwisg lsquoidrsquo (if as perKlingenschmitt 2008 196 from uēs-s-keh₂- see also below note 170) Ved vaacuteste and the likewould then be analyzable as Narten present middles ueacutes-to etc from a root radicues with inherentpunctual semantics lsquoto put on (clothes)rsquo (contra lsquo(Kleidung) anhaben bekleidet sein mitrsquo as perLIVsup2 692) The ldquostativerdquo meaning lsquoto wearrsquo of the characterized Narten present on the other handcould be interpreted in the same way as in pairs such as standard root aorist kueacuteu- lsquosich inBewegung setzenrsquo (punctual) as in Gk Hom ἔσσυτο σύτο lsquostuumlrmte losrsquo etc vs Narten root presentkuḗu- lsquosich bewegen in Bewegung seinrsquo as in Ved ptc cyaacutevāna- lsquoinmotionrsquo etc whose semanticsKuumlmmel (1998 195ff) (with additional examples) describes as ldquodurative Folgehandlungrdquo Wemay therefore project root aorist ueacutes- lsquoto put on (clothes)rsquo (punctual) vs Narten present uḗs-lsquoto have on (clothes)rsquo (durative consequent action)15 Similarly in recent years also Klingenschmitt 2008 196ff16 Alternative explanations are for example proposed by de Vaan (2004) for the IranianmaterialCf also Meissner (2006 72ndash86 especially for the Greek material) whose proposed solutions are




Itmay however be noted that some of the alleged ldquoNartenrdquo roots showa verybasic root structure radicCeC Theremight have been a tendency to avoid zero gradesof the shape CC word-initially17 and therefore to reintroduce the full vowel eWhether this encouraged the full grade CeC to be upgraded under paradigmaticpressure by another e to CēC as a possible consequence18 is difficult to answer

In this paper a thorough examination of three alleged ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stemswill be conducted whose continuants show up in more than only one branchof the Indo-European languages Incidentally the roots featured in this paperradicmed radicsed and radich₁ed share the same basic root structure If it could be de-termined that they act similarly in their ablaut behavior and their derivationalproperties this would indeed give a hint at the assumption that root structurehad something to do with the occurrence of irregular lengthened grades But aswe will see after the discussion of the long-vowel s-stems and s-stem continuantsin question such an interpretation is not favored by the material

The theory of ldquoNartenrdquo roots might however stand a chance after all yetonly in a ldquolightrdquo version It will be argued that there was no systematic correlationbetween verbal ldquoNartenrdquo paradigms and nominal formations but that an analog-ical influence of verbal lengthened grades (of whatever origin) on nominal stemsand in particular on neuter s-stems which predominantly functioned as verbalabstracts is certainly to be expected19 In fact a comparable process did happenin historical times as demonstrated by cases of similar remodeling within the in-dividual languages (cf πάϑος for πένϑος after ἔπαϑον see note 9 above)13 Theworkinghypothesis of this paperwill therefore be as follows There are noldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems There are no ldquoNartenrdquo roots sensu stricto There is howevera reasonable probability that lengthened grades in default verbal formations canbe regarded as one possible source of analogical introduction of a long vowel intothe root of a neuter s-stem Sometimes however theremight be othermore sensi-ble explanations for long vowels such as regular sound developments or deriva-

however not always convincing A very promising analysis is presented by Peters (2002 101) andNussbaum (apud Peters 2002 101 note 10) where it is asserted that ldquoNartenrdquo nouns only inflectedacrostatically (in suffix and ending) when the suffix involved also exhibited acrostatic inflectionelsewhere17 Word-internally this does not seem to be the case where we find CC from the alleged ldquoNartenrdquoroot radicsed lsquoto sit downrsquo for example in si-sd- (Ved sdati Gk ἵζω Lat sīdō) and ni-sd-o- (Latnīdus Ved nīḍaacute- Germ Nest)18 Cf Strunkrsquos (1985 499) principle of ldquoSekundaumlraufstufungrdquo Of course there is no palpablereason why the roots of the structure radicCeRC and the like should have evaded the zero gradesCRC etc which otherwise occur completely regularly19 Similarly already Isebaert 1992 203




tional patternswhere a lengthenedgrade is expected (viz vṛddhi-derivatives) Forevery proposed solution examples of similar developments will be given to con-firm that the approach in question is not an arbitrary assumption but can be par-alleled by a comparable process

2 PIE mēd-es-The first example of an alleged ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stem is mḗd-os The lengthenedgrade is reflected by Gk μήδεα pl lsquocounsels plansrsquo20 (Il+) and Arm mit lsquomindthoughtrsquo whereas Umbr meřs lsquoius lawrsquo21 seems to go back to regular meacuted-oswith a short root vowel21 The supposed development PIE meacuted-os gt Umbr meřs relies on two well-known phonological features of the Umbrian language The change of intervo-calic d to ř (cf also zeřef serse lsquosedēns sittingrsquo lt sedens) and syncope infinal syllables which is also found in Oscan (cf nom sg huacuterz lsquohortus gardenrsquo lthortos) The chronology of these events however has been disputed since it isusually accepted that syncope predates the development d gt ř thus leading toan alleged nom-acc meds and via assimilation mets Equally problematic isthe assumption that ř was secondarily introduced from the oblique cases sincealso there the suffix vowel should have been syncopated before d became řAdditional difficulties are induced by the apparent derivative mersuva abl sgf (confirmed by the spellingmersuva [III 11]) going back to med-es-ua- wherethe outcome rsseems rather unexpected as well as by another alleged s-stemtuder lsquoborder boundaryrsquo (lt tud-es-) which seems to contradict both syncopeand d gt ř

Meiser has consequently outlined a framework of successive phonologicaland analogical developments that can positively account for the attested forms

20 Schindlerrsquos example Gk μήδεα (Od Androm apud Gal Call Ant Lib) and μέδεα (Archil138) lsquomale genitalsrsquo also μέζεα (HesOp 512 Lyc) obviously belongs to a spherewhere (tabuistic)remodeling cannot be excluded Since it is unclear whether the word was originally identicalto the s-stem μήδεα lsquocounsels plansrsquo (as per Meissner 2006 80 ldquo[T]he semantic difficulties arenot insurmountablerdquo) or belongs to another PIE root radicmed lsquoswellrsquo (as per IEW 706) or is ofpre-Greek origin (as per Beekes 2010 2 941) it will be omitted from the discussion21 In theUmbrian alphabet (henceforth inbold letters) it is attested asmeřs in the Latin alphabet(henceforth in italics) where ř is usually written as langrsrang it appears asmers The spelling langrsrang inthis case should be read as řs For the different readings of the sequence langrsrang cf Buck 1904 83and also below 31




He assumes that after the syncope of final syllables d first shifted to a voicedfricative eth resulting in a paradigm mets meethez- (with intervocalic s gt z)where eth was analogically introduced in the nom-acc sg meeths and was notaffected by the following -s After the syncope of internal syllables meethez-be-came meethz- and was dissimilated to mers- whereas adjacent to r the fricativeeth was dissimilated or backformed to d (hence tuder)22 In all other positions ethbecame ř23

In the Umbrian corpus the word only appears in the nom sg in all instancespreceded by a relative pronoun or a conjunction and followed by the copula insome cases evenuniverbatedwith it24 There are also twoderivatives of the s-stemmed-es-uo-25 and med-es-to-2627 The latter has amatch in Latinmodestus lsquomod-

22 However this explanation implies that the suffixal vowel of tuder as opposed tomeřs was notsyncopated Cf Meiser 1986 231ndash8 for a detailed and thorough discussion of the word which isunfortunately best summarized by its last sentence ldquoWarum freilich die Entwicklung bei tudes-anders verlief als beim strukturell aumlhnlichen medos gt meřs bleibt ungeklaumlrtrdquo Note howeverthat the phonologically expected outcome tuřs turs appears as a morpheme in verbal formssee next note23 Cf Meiser 1986 226ndash31 and etuřstamu (Ib 16) eheturstahamu (VIb 55) eturstahmu (VIb 53[twice]) ndash as an imp 3rd pl of a denominative verb lsquoexterminato (they) should expelrsquo as if lteχtudestāmōd (vel sim) ndash which shows the proposed development of d gt ř adjacent to s whichalso explains meřs24 meřs (Ib 18 twice) mers (VIb 31 55) mersest (VIb 55 univerbation mers + est or simplywithout interpunct)mersei (VIa 28) andmersi (VIa 38 48 univerbationmers + sei si [pres subj3rd sg]) cf Untermann 2000 46125 mersus nom sg m (III 6) mersuva abl sg f (III 11) and mersuva acc pl n (III 28) cfUntermann 2000 473f26 mersto acc sg m (VIa 3 4 16 17) mersta acc sg f (VIa 3 4 16) meersta acc sg f (VIa17)merstu abl sg m (VIa 1)merstaf acc pl f (VIa 4) andmersta acc pl f (VIa 3 [twice] 4 18[twice]) cf Untermann 2000 473 Following Meiserrsquos argumentation outlined above the readinghas to be meřsto because eth was not influenced by the voiceless s27 TheOscanmagistrate titlemeddiacutess (alsoMarrucinianmedixMarsianmedismeddis Paelignianmedix Volscian medix cf Untermann 2000 456f) seems to reflect a compound of med-osmed-es- and dik- (similar to Lat iūdex lsquojudgersquo from the s-stem iūs lt oues- + dik-) though theexactmorphological analysis of the first compoundmember is unclear (med-(e)s-diks medo-diksmed-diks vel sim) Nussbaum (1976 242f note 5 followed apparently by Tremblay 2010 208)argues for the latter and supposes a neuter root noun mḗd mĕd-oacutes whose weak stem servedas the first member of the compound and whose strong stem yielded (in recharacterized form)Gk μῆδος and Armmit However attractive this interpretation may seem at first it entails somemajor difficulties The evidence of neuter root nouns in PIE other than names for body parts isscarce (cf Schindler 1972a 8 Balles 2006 258 note 406) and also the existence of an ablaut ē ĕ in root nouns is not absolutely clear from the material (the most prominent example beingh₃rḗǵ- lsquokingrsquo cf Schindler 1972b 37 Schindler 1994 399 and see note 62 below) At any rate




erate calm restrainedrsquo which differs from it only in the root vocalism The deriva-tive indicates that Latinmust also quite certainly havehadaneuter s-stemmedusat some point which was not only influenced in its vocalism but later also re-placed by the (supposedly synonymous) masculinemodus lsquomeasure mannerrsquo28

We have presupposed so far that meřs goes back to a short-vowel formationmĕdos In fact an advocatus diaboli could object that vowel length was not con-sistently expressed in Umbrian spelling There is one attestation of the derivativemed-es-to- occurring with plene spelling as meersta in VIa 17 perhaps hintingat an underlying mēd-es-to- This is however not very likely To begin with theword is written 14 times with a simple e in the very same text once even in thesame line which makes a misspelling quite probable (cf Meiser 1986 140) Fur-thermore the length indicated cannot easily go back to PIE ē as this was raisedto ẹ written as lange i ehrang and lange i ei eh eherang in the two alphabets29 As one caneasily see there is virtually no guarantee that mẹřs lt mēdos would have beenin any way graphically distinct from meřs lt mĕdos since both forms could byallmeans have beenwritten asmeřs andmersWewill only gain a certain amountof confidence if we happen to find a new inscription where the word appears aslangmiřsrang langmehrsrang or the like For now however we should stick to the null hypoth-esis viz thatmeřsmers does in fact stand for an accurately written mĕřs3022 Armmit lsquomind thoughtrsquo (Bible+) is ndash unlike the other continuants of neuters-stems in Armenian that were chiefly transferred to the o-stem declension (cfMatzinger 2005 37f) ndash synchronically inflected as an a-stem31

the equations Lat iūs Umbrmeřs Lat iūstus Umbrmersto- Lat iūdex Oscmeddiacutess seem toindicate that Lat ouos and Osc-Umbr medos were exact semantic matches at the time of theirreligious and juridical conceptualization within the individual languages of the Italic family cfBenveniste 1969 123ndash32 Untermann 2000 456ndash928 A similar approach is also the most plausible explanation for the vocalism of the s-stemLat pondus -eris lsquoweightrsquo viz for older pendus remodeled under the influence of pondusm(preserved only in pondō indecl lsquoin weightrsquo as a fossilized abl sg) cf Meillet 1922 96 Walde ampHofmann 1938ndash1956 2 278f29 Cf Buck 1904 34 Meiser 1986 27 and 45 Examples include Umbr fesnafe (IIb 16) which iscompared to Osc fiacuteiacutesnuacute lt fēsnā (cf Lat fēstus fēriae) Umbr sehmeniar (Ib 42) sehemeniar(VIIa 52) semenies (IIb 1) sehmenier (Vb 11 16) if as commonly accepted they belong to Latsēmen (as if sēmen-io- etc) and Umbr plener (VIIa 21 34) plenasier (Va 2 14) if akin to Latplēnus and plēnārius30 Bertocci (2012 14ff) argues for a general development ē gt Umbr e (as far as I can see limitedto the second syllable of a word which then resists syncope) yet rather on morphological thanon phonological grounds31 Theoretically the word need not continue a PIE neuter s-stem but could go back to mēd-eh₂-(thus e g Meillet 1922 96) with a lengthened root vowel There is some conspicuous evidence




This peculiarity is best explained by the fact that the word is predominantlyused in its plural form nom mit-kʿ gen-dat pl mt-acʿ (cf Martirosyan 2010470f) If one supposes that this usewas already common in pre-einzelsprachlich32

times (which is indeed suggested by the plurale tantum Gk μήδεα lsquocounselsplansrsquo see below 23) one could assume that a putative nom-acc pl mēd-es-h₂was inherited into Armenian (and into Greek where it regularly produced μήδεα)and led via miteʰa and mita after adding the common nom pl marker -kʰ(cf Matzinger 2005 119ff) to the attested nom pl mit-kʿ which could then beinterpreted as belonging to an a-stem substantive33

Since this assumption makes perfect sense for both Armenian and Greekon phonological and morphological grounds but cannot however accountfor Umbr meřs it consequently seems reasonable to assume that the forma-tion dates from a common Proto-Graeco-Armenian period and that also thelengthened grade might be a shared innovation Within Armenian mit is iso-lated but the Greek material provides us with clues to a possible source of thealleged remodeling23 The Greek noun μήδεα attested from the Iliad onwards belongs to a groupof different formations of the root radicmed lsquomessen fuumlr Einhaltung sorgen sich

of the existence of substantives with the structure R(ē)-eh₂- in PIE cf bʰēr-eh₂- gt Gmc bǣrō- flsquobier litterrsquo in OHG bāra Germ Bahre OEngl bǣr etc h₁ēd-eh₂- in Lith da f lsquofoodrsquo Latv ȩda flsquobaitrsquo Russ едaacute (jedaacute) lsquofood mealrsquo OHG āza lsquoidrsquo etc (see below 47) sēd-eh₂- gt Gmc sǣtō- in ONsaacutet OEngl sǣt lsquoambushrsquo MHG sāze lsquoseat residence ambushrsquo (cf Darms 1978 91ndash102 for moreexamples and a thorough discussion and also Isebaert 1992 203 who proposes an influence ofNarten presents) For most of these samples there are of course other possible explanationsInterestingly enough however these formations belong to roots for which a ldquoNartenrdquo characterhas been proposed In any case for our Armenian word this interpretation remains unattractivebecause of the formally possible and semantically attractive connection to the Greek word (seebelow) Be that as it may the above-postulated mēd-eh₂- seems to be directly reflected in anotherIE language namely by OHGmāza f lsquomeasure mannerrsquo GermMaszlig f lsquoa mug of beerrsquo32 It is unclear if neuter s-stems already formed a proper nom-acc pl by adding -(e)h₂ to theoblique stem in PIE times This is admittedly suggested by equations like Gk (Ion) γένεα ~ Latgenera (lt ǵenh₁-es-h₂) ~ OCS slovesa lsquowordsrsquo (lt ḱleu-es-eh₂) ~ OIr tige lsquohousesrsquo (lt (s)teg-es-(e)h₂)but inAvestan andVedic thenom-acc pl of neuter s-stemsgoes back to an amphikinetic collectiveformation (Avman lt meacuten-ōs as the synchronic nom-acc pl ofmanah- lsquomind thoughtrsquo Vedmaacutenāṁsi is the result of an analogical transformation of an equally underlying meacuten-ōs vizinsertion of a nasal and addition of the neut pl marker -i) which is seemingly older than theforms with -(e)h₂ that can easily have been formed in einzelsprachlich times (cf Stuumlber 2002203) Note that in Hittite where we would perhaps expect an archaic state of affairs no nom-accpl is attested for the (commonly accepted) s-stems nēpiš lsquosky heavenrsquo and aiš lsquomouthrsquo33 Cf for all this Clackson 1994 147ndash9 Olsen 1999 69 Stuumlber 2002 125f Matzinger 2005 17and 47f Martirosyan 2010 470f




kuumlmmernrsquo (LIVsup2 423) including the thematic verb μήδομαι lsquoto deliberate con-trive decidersquo (Il+) the agent noun μήστωρ lsquoadvisor counselorrsquo (Il+) thematicμέδομαι lsquoto care for think ofrsquo (Il+) and μέδω lsquoto rulersquo (Emp Soph) with the par-ticiple μέδων lsquorulerrsquo (already Homeric) which taken together show a peculiarē ĕ alternation

There is an obvious semantic connection between the substantive μήδεαlsquocounsels plansrsquo and the verb μήδομαι lsquoto deliberate contrive decidersquo whichjustifies the assumption that during their prehistory onemay have influenced theroot vocalism of the other As already mentioned in the premises of this paperthere is a better chance of explaining a remodeling of the substantive in analogyto the verb than the other way round all the more since there are categorieswithin the PIE verbal system where lengthened grades are more or less com-monly accepted If we can find a way of successfully explaining the origin of thelengthened grade in the verbmḗd-eo- it will be only reasonable to accept thatpre-einzelsprachlich mdesa (vel sim) was analogically remodeled to mḗdesawhich then led to Armmit and Gk μήδεα

One way of explaining the long vowel in μήδομαι is by assuming that mēd-represents a contamination of two separate but semantically largely overlappingroots radicmed and radicmeh₁ lsquo(ab)messenrsquo (LIVsup2 424f) in Proto-Graeco-Armeniantimes34 This is of course not disprovable but the coexistence of μήδομαι andμέδομαι would demand that the original root radicmed had not entirely been givenup in favor of the secondary root mēd which seems at best fairly unlikely Thepeculiar pair μήδομαι μέδομαι is far more easily understood if we consider themto be the result of an individual lexicalization of the two stem alternants mḗd- meacuted- of some acrostatic verbal formation35

It is clear that being a medium tantum the lengthened grade in μήδομαιmust be of secondary origin since we would expect a reduced grade in the mid-dle Beyond this a conspicuous long vowel is also found in the Hesychius glossμῆστο βουλεύσατο There are different ways of interpreting this form Latte(1966 663) emends it to (ἐ)μήσατο the regular synchronic s-aorist of μήδομαι at-tested since Homer Chantraine (1968ndash1980 693) suggests an original athematic

34 Thus Beekes 2010 2 941 (apparently discarding an older view viz radicmeh₁d as in Beekes1988 30) Similar but less convincing is the account of Meissner who likes to derive the s-aorist(ἐ)μησάμην (Il+) not from md- but from meh₁- from which then ldquofor formal reasons andconsidering the close semantic relationship with μέδομαι a present μήδομαι could have beencreated and μήδεα then may have been derived from itrdquo (Meissner 2006 81) For Gk μέτρον (asmed-tro- not from radicmeh₁) cf Schindler apudMayrhofer 1986 111 and apud Peters 1999 447and note 235 Cf also Isebaert 1992 195 note 14




present mēd- mĕd- for μήδομαι and therefore regards μῆστο as an athematicimperfect However a Narten present36 does not correspond to the alleged dura-tive character of the root radicmed lsquomessen fuumlr Einhaltung sorgen sich kuumlmmernrsquothat would call for a regular standard root present37

It therefore seems conceivable that μῆστο reflects a characterized Nartenroot aorist formation mēd-to38 This approach would then also account for thepreterite OIr romiddotmiacutedar lsquojudgedrsquo39 and maybe for the perfect (gt preterite-present)Goth ga-mōt lsquoto find room have permissionrsquo40 Greek would then have gen-eralized the aorist allomorph mēd- in the (thematized) present stem41 thus

36 Also proposed in LIVsup2 423 as well as by Isebaert (1992 201)37 Cf for this principle Meillet 1908 84f Peters 1975 41 Schindler 1975a 62 Isebaert 1992 19438 Cf for this Peters 1980 324 The lengthened grade would neither be original in a Nartenimperfect middle nor in a Narten aorist middle In any case it is noteworthy that most of theattested verbal formations of the root go back to middle forms so the middle may have at anearly stage adopted the unmarked ablaut equivalents (in addition to μήδομαι and μέδομαι [activeμέδω is only attested since Soph and Emp] cf also OIrmidithir (see next note) OAvmasatāsubj med 3rd sg lsquowill measure outrsquo YAv vī-māδaiiaṇta opt med 3rd pl lsquoshall measure outrsquoToch Bmaistaumlr lsquogages estimatesrsquo (cf Malzahn 2010 776ndash8) and Latmedeor lsquoto heal relieversquo thelatter differs significantly from Latmadeō lsquoto be full drunkrsquo [from a different homophonous rootradicmed lsquovoll werden satt werdenrsquo LIVsup2 423f] for both of which LIVsup2 assumes an essive formationmed-h₁eacute- whencemedeor must have restored R(e) secondarily)39 This preterite is quite peculiar anyway since it behaves differently from all other CeT-verbpreterites Seeing it as the continuant of a (Narten) root aorist would account for this curiosityOther OIr continuants of (standard) root aorists include middotcer lsquofellrsquo luid lsquowentrsquo and middotlaacute lsquolaidrsquo (cfSchumacher 2004 60f) A different origin of middotmiacutedar viz from the weak stem of an inheritedperfect me-md- that was (analogically) transformed to mēd- is proposed in Schumacher 200474ndash76 and 481f note (c) but the implied development seems rather ad hoc The presentmidithirmiddotmidethar reflects med-eo- which developed apparently regularly from thematic med-eo-within (Proto)Irish med-eo- is also required by Middle Welshmeeth- (not daggermeieth-) cf Schumacher2004 481 note (a)40 LIVsup2 423 projects me-mōd- as a secondary perfect analogically to the R(ē) of the Nartenpresent This account ignores however the fact that the verb is attested in Gothic as mitanlsquomeasurersquo (lt med-eo-) without any traces of a lengthened grade Even if ga-mōt andmitan areno longer interpretable as belonging to the same root on a synchronic level and may thereforehave developed independently from a relatively early stage it seems more plausible to acceptwith Peters that the perfect formation in question was presumably derived from the aorist stemallomorph rather than from the present cf Peters 1980 97 and 324 (with further examples)41 As Peters (1980 28 sub a)) points out this kind of leveling seems to have been more commonndash given the unmarked status of the Greek aorist ndash than a leveling in favor of the present stemallomorph Cf for example the pres στόρνῡμι lsquoI spreadrsquo after aor ἐστόρεσα (via metathesis fromstero[s]- radicsterh₃)




resulting in μήδομαι alongside regular μέδω and μέδομαι42 Another welcomeepiphenomenon of this theory is that it can explain why the latter is only attestedin the present and imperfect but never found in the aorist24 Of course this explanation presupposes the existence of Narten root aoristswhich is far from commonly accepted despite some seemingly conclusive ev-idence43 But even if one rejects a Narten aorist mḗd-to (gt μῆστο Hsch) andplumps for a Narten present mḗd-ti instead it seems quite understandable howthis led to a (Proto-Graeco-Armenian) verb mḗd-eo- that finally produced Gkμήδομαι It is also comprehensible that this verb caused an original verbal ab-stract mĕd-es- (which independently developed to Umbrmeřs) to be remodeledto mēd-es- resulting in Armmit and Gk μήδεα

3 PIE sēd-es-The second s-stem of particular interest is PIE sḗd-os The short-vowel form seacuted-os is the direct source of Ved saacutedas- (RV+) Gk ἕδος (Il+)44 and ON setr all ofwhich have themeaning lsquoseat residencersquo while OIr siacuted lsquofairy mound peacersquo andON saeligtr lsquoa mountain pasturersquo seem to go back to sḗd-os31 Another possible continuant of the s-stem might lie in Umbr sersi (VIa 5)The word appears in VIa 5 in the sequence sersi pirsi sesust immediately before arelative clause introduced by the conjunction pirsi45 lsquowhenrsquo followed by the futperf 3rd sg sesust probably lsquosederitrsquo (cf Untermann 2000 680f) thus suggest-ing a meaning lsquoin sede cum sederit i e when he (the augur) has seated himselfon the seatrsquo (Buck 1904 263) According to the communis opinio46 the word has

42 Of course also this form is not regular The expected stem allomorph of the root presentmiddlemd- must have been replaced by med- from the singular active maybe in order to prevent anodd allomorphy med- md- gt med- ad- () or euphonically to avoid difficult-to-pronouncezero grades ()43 Cf Tremblay 2005 for an overview (with literature)44 The word might also be attested in Mycenaean Greek as o-pi-e-de-i if this is to be read as prepopi + dat sg hedehi lsquoat the seat residencersquo referring to the temple or sanctuary of a deity CfDMic 2 39 with lit45 In the Umbrian alphabet found as peře (IIa 3) The various spellings in the Latin alphabet(persi persei perse pirsi pirse all on VIa and VIb) partly seem to be the result of a rhymingconnection to the preceding or the following word cf persi mersi (VIa 38) persei mersei (VIa 28)pirsi mersi (VIa 48) or the discussed sersi pirsi (VIa 5) itself cf Untermann 2000 521f For itsvarious semantics and uses cf also Weiss 2010 61 note 11346 Cf Untermann 2000 658f also for other less convincing interpretations




to be read as seři and reflects the abl or loc sg of an i-stem sedi- However ani-stem of this kind from this root would be unique within the IE languages47 allthe more since the alleged comparandum Lat sēdēs need not continue an i-stemformation (see below)

In the Latin alphabet the spelling langrsrang is not exclusively used for designat-ing ř but also for the sound sequences řs and rs proper For our mattersthis means that langrsrang might also stand for two distinct sounds and not only onephoneme An interpretation as langsersirang = seřsi48 or sersi49 permits the analysisas the expected outcome of a presupposed s-stem loc sg sed-es-i the obviousadvantage of which being that Umbr sersi then would no longer be an isolatedformation but would formally align with the well-attested group of Ved saacutedas-Gk ἕδος and ON setr all of which show a parallel meaning50 lsquoseat residencersquo

47 The existence of the secondary s-stems YAv hadiš- lsquoGottheit desWohnsitzesrsquo and OPers hadiš-lsquoWohnsitz Palastrsquo (cf Stuumlber 2002 143) does not necessarily presuppose the erstwhile presenceof an i-stem seacuted-i- but can be regarded as cognate to Ved saacutedhiṣ- lsquoSitz Staumlttersquo (lt sed-h₂-s- cfEWAia 2 694)48 This reading is not only suggested by the spellingmers (VIb 31 55 [twice]) which appears asmeřs (Ib 18 [twice]) in the Umbrian alphabet but also by the formsmersei (VIa 28) andmersi (VIa38 48) which are best analyzed as juxtapositions of langmersrang (viz meřs) with the pres subj 3rdsg si of the copula (viz meřs+si gt meřsi) Incidentally all the above-mentioned examplesappear in the same tablet as sersi and thus permit a reading seřsi49 There seems to be a derivative of the s-stemmeřs that indicates a phonological developmentdifferent from the one just assumed The outcomes of an alleged form medes-uo- (nom sg mmersus (III 6) abl sg fmersuva (III 11) and acc pl nmersuva (III 28) all of which have langrsrang forrs) suggest a dissimilation of ř + z to rs (cf Meiser 1986 174f 184f also Weiss 2010 99f note 4)Unfortunately there are no attestations of case forms of (regular) neuter s-stems in Umbrian otherthan the nom sgmeřs (for tuder cf immediately below for Umbr erus [secondary s-stem onlyacc sg] cf Weiss 2009b) that would be able to clarify whether this phonological developmentwas indeed realized within the paradigm of neuter s-stems thus resulting in a somewhat peculiarstem-alternating paradigm nom sgmeřs gen sg merser or if ř was generalized throughout theparadigm by analogical leveling (gen sg meřser) In fact the other attested s-stem tuder exhibitsparadigmatic leveling in another direction (generalization of the oblique -er- also in the nom-accsg cf Meiser 1986 231ndash8 and above 21) which could in theory support the assumption that aleveling in either direction is possible and may even be expected in Umbrian This then wouldhave led to a generalization of the stem variant of the nom-acc sg meřs- and similarly seřs-thus again giving preference to the reading seřsi50 The concrete meaning lsquoseat chair saddle etcrsquo that is required by Umbr sersi is also paralleledin Vedic and Greek

RV 5612 kvagrave voacute rsquośvāḥ kvālsquobhśavaḥ kathaacuteṃ śeka kath yaya pṛṣṭheacute saacutedo nasoacuter yaacutemaḥlsquoWo sind eure Rosse wo die ZuumlgelWie habt ihr das vermocht wie seid ihr gekommen (Woist) der Sattel auf dem Ruumlcken der Zaum in den Nuumlstern (der Rosse)rsquo (Stuumlber 2002 143)




There is however a fundamental drawback to this analysis The evidence ofa locative (or ablative51) ending -i of consonantal stems in Umbrian is scarce52

One would expect the ending ‑e lt -i53 as in loc-abl sg vapeře lsquostone (seat)rsquo (III7) or kapiřecapirse lsquocupbowl with handle used mainly for ritual purposesrsquo54 (Ia34 41VIb 24 37)55 The ending -i (lt -īd) in turn marks the regular ablative ofUmbrian i-stems56 which has led to the already mentioned analysis of sersi asthe abl sg of an i-stem sed-i- In that case the word could be identified with Latsēdēs gen sg sēdis f lsquoseat residencersquo which shows a peculiar lengthened rootvowel Since the vowel ẹ lt PIE ē is not always graphically distinguished frome in Umbrian (see above 21) langsersirang could possibly stand for sẹři as well57 Butthe existence of an Italic i-stem sēdi- is not conclusively imposed by the Latinword either The three dissenting votes are the nom sg in -ēs58 the gen pl sē-

Il 9193 ταφὼν δrsquo ἀνόρουσεν Ἀχιλλεὺςαὐτῇ σὺν φόρμιγγι λιπὼν ἕδος ἔνϑα ϑάασσενlsquoErstaunt erhob sich Achilleus mitsamt der Leier und verliess den Sitz wo er gesessenhattersquo (Stuumlber 2002 144)

51 For the locative uses of the ablative in Umbrian cf Buck 1904 203f The Umbrian abl sg ofconsonant stems seems to go back to the loc sg anyway (as opposed to Oscan where we find theending of o-stems) cf Buck 1904 125 Weiss 1993 4352 There is one example of a consonant stem with a loc sg in -i Umbr scalsie lsquoa kind of vesselrsquo(VIb 5 VIIa 37 loc sg scalsi+ enclitic -en) where the original -i was presumably retained beforethe enclitic cf Buck 1904 126 For the abl sg peři persi see below in the text53 Cf Meiser 1986 113f who casts some doubt on this sound lawrsquos validity54 Cf Weiss 2010 342f for an interpretation of its ritual purpose55 Cf Untermann 2000 825f and 367f56 The locative of i-stems also has the ending -e cf loc sg ocre lsquomount strongholdrsquo (VIa 26 36VIb 29) cf Untermann 2000 791f57 Cf also Klingenschmitt 1992 11558 Of course this is the regular nom sg ending of hysterokinetic i-stems in Latin (cf Klingen-schmitt 1992 114 Schaffner 2001 435 Weiss 2009a 242ndash4) but as such one would expect azero grade in the root (cf Lat fidēs lsquofaith trustrsquo lt bʰidʰ-ē ()[+s] fīdō lsquoI trustrsquo lt bʰedʰ-eo- Latclādēs lsquocalamityrsquo lt klh₂d- per-cellō lsquoI smitersquo lt kelh₂d-) or at least a secondarily introduced fullgrade (cf Lat com-pāgēs lsquobinding frameworkrsquo lt peh₂ǵ- pangō lsquoI fixrsquo Lat con-tāgēs lsquotouchrsquo ltteh₂g- tangō lsquoI touchrsquo) but not a lengthened grade If one therefore supposes that sēdēs is notan original hysterokinetic formation but was generated after a productive pattern as a feminineverbal abstract one would then expect daggersedēs (after sedeō sedēre lsquoto sitrsquo) as an outcome sincethese abstracts almost exclusively correspond in their root vocalism to the associated presentstem (cf Lat caedēs lsquoslaughterrsquo caedō lsquoI slaughterrsquo Lat lābēs lsquodisasterrsquo lābor lsquoI fallrsquo etc) Theassumption that the verbal abstract was derived from a secondary root variant sēd- (as perKlingenschmitt 1992 117 the evidence of which is limited to Celtic causative formations with ōviz OIr saacuteidid lsquothrusts fixesrsquo and Middle Welsh gwahawd lsquoto invitersquo) is hardly disprovable yet




dum (Cic Liv)59 and of course the lengthened grade of the root Because of theseirregularities it has been proposed that sēdēs should be regarded as a remodeledroot noun60 This seems to be an attractive solution since it could explain the in-flectional behavior61 and also the vowel length62 The starting point would be aroot noun sēd-s gen sg sĕd-eos whence with leveled root ablaut in favor ofthe strong stem sēd-s sēd-eos resulting in Latin daggersēs(s)63 sēdisWhy the nomsg then was transformed to sēdēs is an open question64 But it may in any casebe noted that such a remodeling is not exactly unique within Latin It can be par-alleled by the root nouns nūbs f lsquocloudrsquo (Liv Andron) and saeps f lsquohedge fencersquo

unlikely Another possibility is however that the verbal abstract was somehow built on the stemof the synchronic perfect sēdī (of whatever origin it may be) a suggestion that has also been madefor above-mentioned com-pāgēs con-tāgēs and for rūpēs lsquocliff cragrsquo (after pāgī [only pēgī] tāgīrūpī) and also for amb-āgēs lsquodetour meanderingsrsquo (after āgī [only ēgī] cf for these examplesPeters 1977 68) for which the explanation given above (secondarily introduced full grade wouldhave led to daggeramb-agēs) is not possible But nevertheless a secondary remodeling of daggeramb-agēs toamb-āgēs after com-pāgēs con-tāgēs pro-pāgēs lsquoa stockrsquo etc cannot be excluded so sēdēswouldremain the only significant example for this derivational process which additionally also yieldssome semantic difficulties59 This gen pl appears beside the expected sēdium As per Ernout 1965 17 Benedetti 1988 149note 578 pace Klingenschmitt 1992 116f the former seems to be the older one60 Cf Benedetti 1988 149f Tremblay 2010 204 and NIL 593f note 2 for a summary of thedifferent other assumptions (with lit)61 Cf for example the gen pl pĕdum of the root noun pēs lsquofootrsquo62 One must of course concede that PIE had root nouns with an acrostatic R(ḗ) R(eacute) ablaut forwhich the comparative evidence is not exactly overwhelming (cf Schindler 1972b 37 Schindler1994 399 Scarlata 1999 759 with lit Tremblay 2010 passim with a collection of possible exam-ples) Within Latin the supporting evidence includes rēx rēgism lsquokingrsquo (cf OIr riacute rig Ved rj-)lēx lēgis f lsquolawrsquo (radicleǵ lsquosammeln auflesenrsquo [LIVsup2 397] cf Marrucinian lixs [nom sg] and Oscanligud [abl sg] for which cf Untermann 2000 434f) maybe spēs spēī f lsquohopersquo (if from spḗh₂-s[Eichnerrsquos law] with h₂ because of Ved sphāyātai lsquosoll fett werdenrsquo etc (pace LIVsup2 584 radicspʰeh₁)cf Weiss 1993 25ndash7) and less convincing ēr ērism lsquohedgehogrsquo (cf Gk χήρ Hsch if from radicǵʰerslsquosich straumluben erstarrenrsquo [LIVsup2 178] with ēr for hēr as in ānser for hānser) and finally rēnēsmpl lsquokidneysrsquo (if with Lith strnos f pl lsquoloinsrsquo from srḗn- cf Mastrelli 1979) Taken together theassumption of an ē e root noun sḗd-s does at least not seem illusionary63 For -sed- as a second compoundmember cf Lat dēses lsquoidlersquo praeses lsquoguardianrsquo reses lsquolistlesstorpidrsquo subses lsquoqui subtus sedetrsquo and obses lsquohostagersquo cf Benedetti 1988 149ndash55 and OIr araegen arad lsquodriver of a chariotrsquo if lt prh₂ised-s prh₂ised-os lsquositting next (to the warrior)rsquo cf Stifter2006 161 For the Vedic material cf Scarlata 1999 560ff64 Cf e g also Untermann 1992 146




(Cic Varro) which in Classical times occur as nūbēs and saepēs respectivelyand maybe also by trabēs (Enn) instead of the usual trabs lsquotree-trunk beamrsquo65

Another possible continuant of a root noun sēd-s is found in Lepontic In theinscription of Prestino (COmiddot48) the form siteś appears as the apparent accusativeobject of the verb tetu lsquogave dedicatedrsquo It was taken as the acc sg of a neuters-stem sēd-es by Prosdocimi (1976 214f) but there are several serious objectionsto this assumption (cf for these Uhlich 1999 294f) Therefore it has been arguedand is nowwidely accepted that siteś has the meaning lsquoseatsrsquo and reflects the accpl of a root noun (viz sēd-ns)66

However it may be an explanation based on an inner-Italic equation is inprinciple preferable to an attempt at interpreting the Umbrian word sersi as ans-stem with regard to outer-Italic parallels all the more so since the latter optioncontains the pivotal problem that -i should not surface as the ending of an abl-locsg of a consonant stem a difficulty that it shares with the analysis of sersi as aroot nounwhich as has just been shown is themost plausible origin of Lat sēdēsand Lep siteś

It is possible yet unprovable that the expected loc sg sersewas remodeledto sersi in order to avoid homophony with the participle serse (lt sedens) thatitself appears in the same tablet three lines above and eleven lines below sersi ordue to rhyming purposes based on the following conjunction pirsi which itselfshows this particular tendency (see note 45 above) or simply by substituting the(too ambiguous) ending -eby themore iconic desinence -i whichwasused as theablative ending of i- and u-stems This is also a possible explanation for the ablsg peři (Ia 29 32) persi (VIb 24 37ndash39) lsquofootrsquo67 which should actually surfaceas daggerpeře68 Since this word continues a root noun as well it seems fairly justifiedto assume that Umbr sersi indeed reflects the abl sg of a root noun sēd-s withmatches in Lat sēdēs and Lep siteś32 The explanation as a root noun obviously does not make sense for OIr siacutedlsquofairy moundrsquo and ON saeligtr lsquoa mountain pasturersquo which both seem to go back to aproper s-stem as if lt sēd-os and sēd-es- respectively

65 A root noun trēb-smight be suggested by Osc triacuteiacutebuacutem acc sg lsquohousersquo lt trēb-m cf Klingen-schmitt 1992 117 de Vaan 2008 626 ablehnendWeiss 1993 75ff66 Initially Lejeune 1971a 194f cf also Uhlich 1999 293ndash8 (with a full discussion of the form)Griffith 2005 53f and 61ndash3 (for a plausible phonological development of -ns to Lep -eś)67 Another explanation would be that there was an influence of the u-stem abl sgmani lsquohandrsquocf Klingenschmitt 1992 111 Weiss 1993 4468 Cf Meiser 1986 114 for another less convincing explanation (viz as an old instr sg pedē)




Wagner (1969 246 note 107) suggested that the long-vowel forms OIr siacuted andON saeligtr69 must be explained as a vṛddhi-derivative sēdos (sic) of the s-stem se-dos lsquoseatrsquo the original meaning of which should have been lsquobelonging to beingnear a (human) settlement (sedos)rsquo This interpretation is at first glance quitepromising as it offers a comprehensible explanation for the semantics In Irishfolk belief as Wagner points out the dwellers of these fairy mounds the siacutede(nom pl) were believed to reside in the immediate vicinity of human settlementson higher ground in elf-mounds and ancient tumuli or burying places He addsthat themeaning of ON saeligtr is likewise understandable sincemountain pasturesusually belonged to the whole village community the parallelism in form andmeaning between siacuted and saeligtr therefore being obvious

However Darms (1978 67ndash74) in his book on vṛddhi-derivation in Germanicraises some justified objections against Wagnerrsquos supposition especially in viewofOIr siacuted forwhich such ananalysis ismorphologically impossible since vṛddhi-derivatives inflect thematically (see below 33) After a thorough discussion ofthe material Darms tries to explain ON setr and saeligtr as the result of a paradig-matic split of an ablauting sēd-os sĕd-es- with reference to Schindler 1975cHe finds support for this theory in Swiss German sess n (lt setez- or seta-) alsosignifying lsquoa mountain pasture alprsquo which to him proves that this meaning canalso have developed in primary formations of the root without the detour of avṛddhi-derivative

Despite this verdict however we may be inclined to believe that the inter-pretation of saeligtr as a vṛddhi-derivative is the far more plausible solution afterall since not only formally but also semantically as Darms indeed has to ad-mit it makes perfectly sense For the base form setr the meaning lsquoseat settle-ment farmyardrsquo is well-attested The alleged meaning of the derivative lsquobelong-ing to being near the seat settlement farmyardrsquo fits into the picture well sincefor saeligtr Darms determines the meaning lsquoa mountain pasture summer pasturealp chaletrsquo which implies a viable semantic development70

On the formal side it is noteworthy that basically all inherited s-stems werethematized in North Germanic and are synchronically inflected as neuter a-stems(e g nom-acc sg setr gen sg setrs)71 In this light ON setr regularly goes back

69 He also included Swiss German Sāss which is found in many names of alpine pastures but cfDarms 1978 71f70 A possible equivalent may be found in Upper GermanMaiensaumlszlig n (only marginally) lsquountersteStufe einer Almrsquo to which the cattle are driven in May and Swiss German Saumlss n which are bothput in reference to ON saeligtr in Kluge amp Seebold 2002 24 591 where a vṛddhi-derivative is thepreferred explanation as well71 Cf Casaretto 2004 555 and note 1813




via set-iR-a- lt set-iz-a- (vel sim) to a thematized sĕd-es-o- and likewise analleged vṛddhi-derivative sēd-es-o- leads via sēt-iz-a- gt sāt-iR-a- with umlautlautgesetzlich72 to ON saeligtr

Beyond this it is in my opinion improbable that an ablauting paradigmwould have survived long enough to produce some sort of paradigmatic splitwhose individual continuants happen to have survived as a pair exclusively inOld Norse Additionally there are parallel cases of vṛddhi-derivatives being usedin the field of topographical terms in Germanic73 which makes this analysis allthe more preferable

And finally another vṛddhi-derivative of an s-stem base might be found inOld Norse supporting the formal analysis outlined above The neuter faeligr lsquolambsheeprsquo is traditionally connected with Gk πόκος m lsquofleecersquo and is thought to goback toPGmc fahaz (thus IEW 797) But neither the gender nor the semantics ad-vise such an interpretation On the other hand a connection to a homophonouss-stem fahaz has been proposed74 to account for ON fax n lsquomanersquo (as if75 ltfahsa-) ignoring however that such an s-stem (as if poacuteḱ-os) is very unlikelyto have ever existed Considering Gk πέκος n lsquofleecersquo (only marginally) and Lat

72 Note that the raising of e to i in non-first syllables and the development ē gt ā predate thei-umlaut This process then affects a ā ō u ū and u-diphthongs but not e (cf Krahe amp Meid1967ndash1969 1 59 pace Darms 1978 72 (ON hatr lsquohatersquo without umlaut might have retained itsroot vowel analogically after the verb hata) who is however right when he admits that ldquoDieUmlautsbedingungen im An sind aber nicht so klar daszlig sie ein i oder j der Folgesilbe auch dannerzwingen koumlnnen wenn dieses sonst nicht begruumlndet werden kannrdquo)73 Cf PGmc mari- mōra- (in OHGmarimeri lsquosearsquo OEnglmere lsquosea lakersquo etc OEnglmōrlsquomoor marshrsquo GermMoor lsquoidrsquo etc cf Darms 1978 158ndash66) PGmc dala- dōli- (in OEngl daeligllsquovalleyrsquo OIcl dalr lsquoidrsquo Germ Tal lsquoidrsquo etc OIcl dœll lsquovalley dwellerrsquo lt lsquobelonging to the valleyrsquocf Darms 1978 208ndash18)74 Thus de Vries 1961 149 and 114 Magnuacutesson 1989 221 and 16775 Admittedly the new etymology of faeligr outlined here cannot account for fax either The wordappears also in OHG (fahs lsquoshock of hairrsquo) andOEngl (feax lsquoidrsquo) IEW 797 invokes lt -po ḱ-s-o- withdubious o-grade It is wise to separate fax from faeligr at least from a synchronic inner-Germanicpoint of view It might be somehow connected to the stem of Ved paacutekṣ-man- n lsquoeyelashesrsquo YAvpašna- lsquoidrsquo (of whatever origin cf EWAia 2 62f) Alternatively one could hypothesize a PIEderivative poḱ-s-o- with a peculiar structure R(o)-S(oslash)-o- that would be to peḱ-es- as h₂omǵʰ-s-o-(Toch A eṃts B entsem lsquoGier Neidrsquo) is to h₂emǵʰ-es- (Ved aacuteṁhas- n lsquoBedraumlngnis Notrsquo YAvązah- n lsquoBedraumlngung Engersquo ON angr n (m) lsquoVerdruss Betruumlbnisrsquo) or as tomH-s-eh₂- (Lithtamsagrave lsquodarknessrsquo) is to temH-es- (Ved taacutemas- lsquoidrsquo etc) but for now this remains speculation (cfPeters apud Adams 1985 12 note 21 Hilmarsson 1987 72)




pecus -oris n lsquosheep livestockrsquo76 and in view of the ordinary development ofneuter s-stems in Germanic77 the Proto-Germanic equivalent should have beenfeh-iz-78 An alleged vṛddhi-derivative of this word would then have led to fēh-iz-a-79 gt fāh-iR-a- (vel sim) gt faeligr parallel to sēt-iz-a- gt sāt-iR-a- (vel sim) gtsaeligtr On the semantic side presupposing a meaning lsquosheeprsquo for the base feh-iz-the semantics of fēh-iz-a- would have been lsquobelonging to the sheep (= ewe)rsquo gtlsquolambrsquo or lsquobelonging to the sheep (= flock of sheep)rsquo gt lsquo(one single) sheeprsquo Coin-cidentally there are various similar examples of vṛddhi-derivatives in the fieldof (domestic) animal names in Germanic80 which adds to the likelihood of thisnew etymology81

33 This interpretation however does not solve the problem of OIr siacuted lsquofairymoundrsquo which as Darms points out cannot continue a vṛddhi-derivative sēdos(as suggested by Wagner) Vṛddhi-derivatives appear almost exclusively as the-matic stems or to a far lesser extent as i-stems but never as s-stems A vṛddhi-derivative to an s-stem sĕd-os should have yielded sēd-es-o-82 (or perhaps sēd-s-o-) which would then have led to OIr daggersiacutede83 But for all that siacuted is inflectedas an s-stem in Old Irish Unless one admits that the word was secondarily trans-

76 Even if the original semantics of the s-stem might have been a verbal noun lsquoRupfungrsquo (henceGreek lsquofleecersquo cf LIVsup2 467 radicpeḱ lsquo[Wolle oder Haare] rupfen zausenrsquo) it is fairly safe to project ameaning lsquosheep livestockrsquo (lt lsquowhat is being pluckedrsquo) for PIE peḱ-os (thus also Stuumlber 2002 135)77 Cf (h₁)reacutegu-os gt PGmc rekʷ-iz- thematized as Goth riqis lsquodarknessrsquo ON roslashk(k)r lsquoidrsquo (withlabial umlaut of e before kʷ)78 The regular outcome of feh-iz-(a-) in Old Norse would probably have been daggerfeacuter One mightsuggest that the word itself was replaced by the synonymous u-stem ON feacute n lsquocattle sheeprsquo (frompeḱ-u- cf Goth faihu OHG fihu Lat pecū Ved paacuteśu- etc lsquocattle livestockrsquo) and the allegedvṛddhi-derivative faeligr lsquolamb sheeprsquo respectively79 A long-vowel s-stem fēh-iz was already proposed by Schmidt (1889 148f) but of coursehe did not envisage a vṛddhi-derivative Needless to say that the same objections can be madeagainst the originality of an s-stem fēh-iz as outlined above in the introduction 1180 Cf PGmc han-en- lsquoroosterrsquo hōn-n-a- n lsquochickenrsquo (in Germ Hahn Germ Huhn etc cfDarms 1978 122ndash33) and others (cf Darms 1978 134ndash42)81 There is however a major blemish in this analysis OSwed fār n lsquosheeprsquo Swed faringr n lsquoidrsquoetc do not show any sign of i-umlaut suggesting again a pre-form fahaz- and implying that ONfaeligr reflects affection of R-umlaut Since the cognates of ON saeligtr regularly appear with i-umlaut(ModIcel saeligtrur lsquosummer grazingrsquo Norw saeligter Swed saumlter cf de Vries 1961 576) one wouldhave to assume that the intervocalic h somehow had an umlaut-inhibiting effect on the precedingvowel before its loss and subsequent contraction to defend the proposed etymology Since thephonological processes involved are not at all clear to me this has to remain an open question82 Cf Debrunner 1954 142f83 Cf gen sg nime lsquoof the sky heavenrsquo lt nem-es-os




ferred to this stem class (for which there are only a few parallels)84 the interpreta-tion as a vṛddhi-derivative is problematic both on phonological andmorphologi-cal grounds OIr siacuted therefore seems to be the regular continuant of a long-vowelformation sēdos

Semantically the problem is aggravated by the formally identical word OIrsiacuted lsquopeacersquo Most probably theword belongs to the same root because of itsWelshcounterpart hedd lsquoidrsquo which allegedly goes back to the short-vowel form sĕ-dos85 Darms therefore suggests an ablauting paradigm sēd-os sĕd-es- withreference to Schindler 1975c and asserts that Irish andWelsh would individuallyhave generalized the strong and the weak stem In Irish themeaning would havespecialized from lsquoseat residencersquo to lsquoseat residence of fairiesrsquo The developmentto the second meaning of lsquopeacersquo shared by both languages is left open86

Stuumlber (2002 144f) objects to the existence of an ablauting paradigm sēd-ossĕd-es- within Insular Celtic87 since this would be a unique case of preservedroot ablaut of a suffixal stem She therefore favors a secondary origin of theWelshvocalism (but see note 85) while she regards OIr siacuted as the regular continuant ofan acrostatic s-stem sḗd-os

Following the premises of this paper one would however rather assume theWelsh hedd to be the regular continuant of the short-vowel s-stem sedos andOIr siacuted to be the remodeled form probably in analogy to associated verbal formsThis is the strategy deployed by Meissner (2006 75) who suggests an analogicalinfluence of the verb saidid lsquositsrsquo and its suppletive preterite siacuteasair from whichthe stem siacutead- would have been abstracted which could then easily have influ-

84 Cf de Bernardo Stempel 1999 149ndash51 for a small number of examples85 It is unclear whether Welsh sedd lsquoseatrsquo also goes back to sedos and was secondarily separatedfromhedd ona formal level by generalizing thedifferentanlaut variants s- andh- or if it continues adifferent formation cf Stuumlber 2002 144 She also takes into consideration a remodeling in analogyto verbal forms like eisteddaf lsquoI sitrsquo which is however problematic since this as Schumacher(2000 218) has shown goes back to a compound verbal noun eχs-sodiā (gt eistedd) whereassed-eo- is not attested in Welsh cf also Schumacher 2004 562 (d)86 Stuumlber (2002 144) proposes a development lsquoworuumlber man (zu Rate) sitztrsquo rarr lsquoFriede(nsabkom-men)rsquo and compares Engl settlement meaning lsquocolony villagersquo and lsquoresolution agreementrsquo87 It has yet to be clarified whether the Gaulish toponyms Mello-sedum and Viro-sidum (cfMatasović 2009 326 with lit) can possibly serve as evidence for the co-existence of the two stemvariants sed- and sīd- It is in any case clear that deg-sedum and deg-sidum would not have to be inimmediate relation to an s-stem but could just as well point to a thematic stem or a root noun(for which see below) even though original s-stems apparently do come up as thematic secondcompound members in Gaulish place names cf deg-dunum and deg-δουνον besides s-stem OIr duacutenlsquofort rampartrsquo (cf Dottin 1985 115)




enced the noun There are several necessary objections88 to this theory the firstone being that the connection between the meanings lsquofairy moundrsquo and lsquopeacersquoand lsquoto sitrsquo is not obvious enough to encourage an analogical remodeling of thissort Since the word is isolated within Old Irish both semantically and formally Isee no reasonable chance how it could have obtained its long vowel as the resultof an analogical remodeling

But if one assumes some sort of analogy this alleged remodeling would havehad to have taken place at a time when at a synchronical stage there were stilllong-vowel verbal forms e g from a Narten present representing one of the ex-pected characterized present stem formations to the punctual root radicsed lsquoto sitdownrsquo This Narten present is however only doubtfully attested by the not un-ambiguous present OLith sdmi and the Vedic participle sādaacuted- (as if lt sēd-nt-)a hapax in the compound sādaacuted-yoni- (RV 54312)89

And finally the comparisonwith an entirely different s-stem sīd-os90 whichis reconstructed for Lat sīdus -eris may seem possible on phonological groundsbut is not convincing on the semantic side since the meanings lsquofairy moundpeacersquo on the one hand and lsquoconstellation starrsquo91 on the other are rather difficultto reconcile

Theword therefore seems topersistently hint at either an ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stemor an s-stemof aNarten root But both of these options should rather be dismissedthe former one due to the objections already made above92 and the latter onebecause there are good counter-examples to this assumption e g the zero gradesin the old reduplicated present Ved sdati Gk ἵζω Lat sīdō and derivatives likePIE ni-sd-o- in Lat nīdus Ved nīḍaacute- Germ Nest OIr net etc93

The remaining option therefore is to compare OIr siacutedwith Lat sēdēs Umbrsersi and Lep siteś and somehow trace it back to a root noun Admittedly this is

88 Cf also Stuumlber 2007 40 who additionally remarks that under these conditions the s-stemwould have had to be remodeled to daggersiacutead not siacuted89 The compound can be regarded as a nonce-formation and perhaps owes its long vowel to thepreceding word sādayadhvam cf Lubotsky apud Pronk 2012 240 Nikolaev (2008 554 note 31) isalso skeptical about its originality90 Proposed by Thurneysen 1887 153f91 For Lat sīdus whose prehistory is somewhat opaque cf Stuumlber 2002 181f92 A paradigm like nom-acc sg sḗd-s gen sg seacuted-s-s is very unlikely to have ever existed butif it did it seems quite plausible that it would have been conceived as a root noun and consequentlymerged with the alleged feminine sḗd-s seacuted-os93 Cf most recently Pronk 2012 240f As far as long-vocalic formations such as sōd-o- (Englsoot) etc are concerned I am afraid to admit that I have as yet no satisfactory explanation forthese




not the most elegant solution but in view of the alleged inner-Celtic parallel itslikelihood might increase a little The regular outcome of an already leveled rootnoun sḗd-s gen sg sḗd-o smight have been daggersiacute daggersiacuted (parallel to riacute riacutegm lsquokingrsquolt (h₃)rḗg-s (h₃)rḗg-os) while the regular standard s-stem seacuted-os seacuted-es-oswould have led to daggersed daggerside

It now appears feasible to assume that these two words merged into oneparadigm at some point within Proto-Irish as some instance of eacutetymologie croi-seacutee94 One could hypothesize that the possible Scharnierform was the dat sg inphrases such as lsquoin (the) seatrsquo and lsquoin peacersquo which would have produced daggeriacute siacutedfor the root noun and daggeriacute sid for the s-stem in (classical) Old Irish95 Since thetwo forms differed only in vowel length it probably would not have been toounreasonable to confound them and eventually fuse them into one lexeme

This bold assumption would then also be able to explain the two very differ-ent meanings lsquofairy moundrsquo and lsquopeacersquo One could suppose that the root nouncarried the semantics lsquoseat residencersquo (thus still Lep siteś) gt lsquoseat residenceof fairiesrsquo gt lsquofairy moundrsquo whereas the s-stem had allegedly developed the spe-cialized meaning lsquopeacersquo already in common (insular) Celtic times whence alsoWelsh hedd lsquoidrsquo lt sĕd-os

This account may seem quite arbitrary at first but after a thorough lookthrough the attested Old Irish s-stems one will note that as a category they area rather heterogeneous group96 Beside a few inherited words with parallels inother IE languages there are a number of s-stems that can be traced back toPIE roots but without s-stem parallels elsewhere and also quite a few neuterswithout any etymological links at all suggesting that the two latter groups re-ceived their s-stem inflection only in Celtic or Irish times But more interestinglythere might be one or two97 instances of eacutetymologies croiseacutees within the squad of

94 Similarly Schrijver 1991 37695 Their Proto-Irish pre-forms might have been something like sīδi and seδih (cf McCone 1996100 Stifter 2006 177 and 148) whence probably sīδə and siδə and finally daggersiacuted and daggersid96 Cf de Bernardo Stempel 1999 140ndash54 Houmlfler 2012 84ndash9697 A third possible examplemight be OIr tiacuter lsquoland earthrsquo (Welsh Corn Bret tir lsquoidrsquo) from allegedPCelt tīros lt tēros seemingly another long-vowel s-stem It is usually etymologically linked tothe root radicters lsquovertrocknen durstigwerdenrsquo (LIVsup2 637f) so the expected s-stem should have beenters-os Etymological and semantic parallels can be found in Lat terra f lsquoland earthrsquo (ters-eh₂-)and Osc teruacutem n lsquoarea (of a temple)rsquo (ters-o-) and traces of the s-stem might be present in Latterrēnus lsquoearthlyrsquo (as if lt ters-es-no-) and terrestris lsquoterrestrialrsquo Accordingly one possible way toaccount for the long vowel in tiacuter is to assume a cross between an original s-stem ters-os gt daggerterrand a root noun ters(-s) (which might have led to tēr via regular sound development alreadyin PIE if ph₂tḗr is correctly analyzed as ph₂teacuter-s etc) gt OIr daggertiacuter This however remains purespeculation since such a root noun is nowhere attested




s-stem nouns that could perhaps support our audacious assumption of sḗd-s timesseacuted-es- rarr sḗd-es- (OIr siacuted) The first example is the s-stem ond (gen sg uindeuinne) lsquostonersquo which might owe its peculiar o-vocalism to an analogical influ-ence of or a merger with a thematic noun that regularly had an o-grade in theroot just as it is proposed for Lat pondus n lsquoweightrsquo after pondusm (see abovenote 28) which might be etymologically identical with it (as if from pend-oslsquoheavinessrsquo)98 We could therefore project a cross between peacutend-es- times poacutend-o- rarrpoacutend-es- (OIr ond)

The secondexample is an evenmore obvious candidate namelyOIrnem lsquoskyheavenrsquo It is recognizably connected to the more or less synonymous group ofHitt nepiš Ved naacutebhas- Av nabah- Gk νέφος OCS nebo etc lsquocloud skyrsquo Thesecontinuants can be traced back to PIE neacutebʰ-os the regular outcome of whichhowever should have been OIr daggerneb The preferable explanation for the actualattested nem is to regard it as an eacutetymologie croiseacutee of two individual s-stemsneacutebʰ-es- and neacutem-es- (as in Lat nemus lsquo(sacred) grove gladersquo Gk νέμος lsquoidrsquoVed naacutemas- lsquoworship adorationrsquo Av nəmah- lsquoidrsquo99) of the root radicnem100 lsquoto as-signrsquowhose ritual connotation (cf alsoGaul νεμετον andOIrneimed lsquoholy placesanctuaryrsquo101) must have played a vital role in this process34 As we may now conclude there seems to be no need to project a long-vowels-stem sḗd-os for PIE ON saeligtr is morphologically and semantically best ana-lyzable as an inner-Germanic vṛddhi-derivative sēd-es-o- whereas OIr siacutedmostlikely represents a cross between the regular s-stem seacuted-os as in Ved saacutedas- Gkἕδος ON setr andWelsh hedd and the root noun sḗd-s continuedmost probablyby Lat sēdēs Umbr sersi and Lep siteś

4 PIE h₁ēd-es-The third ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stem in this paper is h₁ḗd-os whose existence in PIE isnot as evident There are no immediate descendants of the s-stem noun in anyIndo-European language We shall however see that its existence in PIE times issuggested by different derivatives or remodelings and therefore very probable

98 Cf Matasović 2009 13799 Schrijver (1995 35) actually thinks that OIr nem is the direct continuant of neacutem-os which issemantically unattractive without conceding an influence of neacutebʰ-os100 radicnem lsquozuteilenrsquo LIVsup2 453101 Stuumlber (2002 131) proposes an interplay of assimilatory processes (lenited bsim lenitedm) andthe influence of OIr neimed for OIr nem




41 The first pair of words in this respect is Lith desisėdesỹs (LDW 1 5163) lsquofod-der feedrsquo andLatv ēdesis (LVV 1 573) lsquopig feedrsquo both ofwhich are often analyzedas deverbal abstracts102 However it can easily be demonstrated that these arebetter explained as denominal derivatives and thus presuppose the existence ofa neuter s-stem h₁d-es- in Proto-Baltic

From a synchronic point of view the suffix Lith -esis (-esỹs)103 is used for de-riving abstract nouns (nomina actionis) from verbs104 As the examples suggestthe suffix has become quite productive105 in Lithuanian especially for verbs ex-pressing all different kinds of sounds andnoises but takenas awhole derivativesof verbs from a great variety of different semantic fields can be found On thesegrounds Lith desisėdesỹs can be interpreted as deverbal from Lith sti du(LDW 1 532) lsquoeat devourrsquo as it also denotes the process of lsquoeatingrsquo as a nomenactionis (cf Bammesberger 1973 82) from which the concrete meaning lsquofodderfeedrsquo might easily have developed106

In Latvian the parallel suffix -esis is far less common but still found in ahandful of words that can be analyzed as deverbal substantives appearing asconcrete nomina rei actae (see below for the examples) In this light Latv ēdesislsquopig feedrsquo regularly corresponds to the verb ēst ȩdu lsquoeatrsquo as lsquowhat is eatenrsquo withsubsequent semantic narrowing107

From a diachronic perspective it is generally accepted that the origin of thesuffix should be sought in an -io-derivative of an s-stem base (viz -es-io-)108

The few inherited PIE neuter s-stems in the Baltic languages109 show a simi-

102 Irslinger (2009 217) however mentions Lith desis as an example for inherited s-stems thatwere transferred to vocalic stem classes in Baltic and reconstructs an underlying PIE h₁ēd-es-Similarly also Casaretto 2004 570 note 1887 and NIL 210103 For the form reflectingmeacutetatonie douce cf Derksen 1996 149 and 158 The Latvian word doesnot exhibit metatony104 Beside these examples only a few nouns without a verbal base are found e g trobesỹslsquobuilding housersquo ( trobagrave lsquoidrsquo) debesigraves -iẽs and debesỹs dẽbesio lsquocloudrsquo ( PIE nebʰ-os cf below)and nuogesỹs lsquonudityrsquo ( nuotildegas lsquonude barersquo) cf Bammesberger 1973 84f105 Leskien 1891 592ndash94 lists approx 20 examples Bammesberger 1973 82ndash86 has over 50106 For this development cf also Germ das Essen Fr le manger107 LVV 1 577 Note that in Old Prussian there are no traces of such a suffix108 Cf Ambrazas 1994 288109 For some other s-stems a conversion to the masculine stems in -as has been proposedmotivated by the homophonous nom sg in -os (cf Bammesberger 1973 43f) While I do notthink that two of the proposed words can by any chance be reliable examples for this process(namely Lithmẽlas lsquoliersquo andmẽtas lsquoyearrsquo) I do believe that Lithmẽnas lsquoart skillrsquo and Lith veacuteidaslsquoface appearancersquo Latv veĩds lsquoform appearancersquo could at least possibly continue the PIE s-stemsmeacuten-os (cf Ved maacutenas- lsquomind sense understandingrsquo [RV+] Av maacutenah- lsquoidrsquo OPers manah-




lar development110 PIE neacutebʰ-os111 is continued as an i-stem in Lith debesigraves112

lsquocloudrsquo and Latv debess113 lsquosky heavenrsquo114 PIE h₂eacuteus-os115 as an i-stem in Lithausigraves -iẽs f lsquoearrsquo Latv agraveuss f lsquoidrsquo and OPruss acc pl āusins lsquoidrsquo116 and PIE

lsquothinking powerrsquo Gk μένος lsquomind courage angerrsquo [Il+] cf Stuumlber 2002 128f) and ueacuted-os (cfVed veacutedas- lsquoknowledge propertyrsquo [RV+] YAv vaēδah- lsquoid ()rsquo Gk εἶδος lsquoform shape appearancelookrsquo [Il+] cf Stuumlber 2002 166ndash9) respectively (thus also Petit 2010 170) Indeed I believe thatone word can be added to these examples namely Lith pẽnas lsquofoodrsquo (PIE peacuten-os cf Lat penus-oris lsquoprovisionsrsquo and maybe Skt panasaacute- m lsquobreadfruit treersquo if lt pen-es-oacute- but ablehnendEWAia 3 303f) for which the analysis as an inherited s-stem to my knowledge has not yet beenproposed110 This quasi derivational process did not implicate any semantic modification of the base(similarly also Lith jentė gen sg jenters lsquohusbandrsquos brotherrsquos wifersquo lt Heacutenh₂ter- as opposedto Latv igraveetere lsquoidrsquo lt Heacutenh₂ter-eh₂- cf NIL 204) The development is surely motivated by thegradual decline of both the genus neutrum and the consonant stem inflection Apparently manycontinuants of PIE consonant stems (i e athematic stems and root nouns) survived into the Balticlanguages as (masculine or feminine) i- and io-stems To name only a few parallel examplesregardless of their exact PIE reconstruction one may consider Lith obuolỹs and Latv acircbuolislsquoapplersquo (as masculine io-stems) Lith naktigraves and Latv nakts lsquonightrsquo (as feminine i-stems) Lithširdigraves and Latv siȓds lsquoheartrsquo (as feminine i-stems) Latv sālsquo ls lsquosaltrsquo (as a feminine or masculinei-stem) Lith sẽnis lsquoold manrsquo (as a masculine io-stem) cf Fraenkel 1936 176f Stang 1966 223The question of whether they were really extended by the addition of an -i- or -io-suffix orsimply merged into these paradigms due to mis- or reinterpretation of different case forms aspossible Scharnierforms need not concern us here Therefore I will continue to speak of it as aderivational process even if this may not be unmitigatedly accurate111 Cf Hitt nepiš- CLuw tappaš- and HLuw tipas- lsquoskyrsquo Ved naacutebhas- lsquomist cloud skyrsquo Avnabah- lsquocloudrsquo Gr νέφος lsquoidrsquo OCS nebo lsquosky heavenrsquo air nem lsquoidrsquo ndash The occurrence of anlautingd- instead of n- is not entirely clear It could be due to a contamination with a semanticallyassociated word Pokorny thinks of Lith dangugraves lsquosky heavenrsquo Fraenkel considers a noun relatedto Gk δνόφος lsquoDunkelheit Finsternis dunkles Gewoumllkrsquo that otherwise left no traces in Baltic (cfIEW 315 LEW 1 85) Petit (2010 29) compares debesigraves for daggernebesigraves to Lith devynigrave lsquoninersquo (insteadof daggernevynigrave) For Hitt nepiš- cf also Houmlfler 2013112 Gen-iẽs m (and dialectal f) also debesỹs gen dẽbesiom (-io-stem) LDW 1 421 For thegeographical distribution of these and some other variants cf ABL 66ndash8 and 140f113 Gen debess f used predominantly in its plural form debesis LVV 1 449f114 Both nouns still have a non-palatalized gen pl (Lith debesų Latv dȩbȩsu) from the conso-nantal stem inflection115 Cf OIr aacuteu oacute OCS ucho (and Alb vesh) lsquoearrsquo ndash reconstructed according to Schindler 1975b264 However the word has been subject to many discussions with regard to its stem formationits inflectional type and the quality of the anlauting laryngeal For a comprehensive overview ofthe different opinions cf NIL 339ndash43116 The Baltic forms (and independently Lat auris) are most probably back-formations from thedual h₂eacuteus-iH (with leveled root ablaut instead of h₂us(-s)-iH) cf Nussbaum 1986 211 note 31




puacuteH-os117 as an -io-stem in Lith puvsis118 lsquorotten stuffrsquo and Latv puvesis119

lsquopurulence rotrsquoIt is therefore only reasonable to assume that the abstract nouns in -esis

must continue PIE neuter abstracts in -os-es- in some way or other But asBammesberger (1973 86) points out the above mentioned inherited s-stems areobviously not abstract nouns The origin of the suffix must therefore lie in a PIEverbal abstract that was inherited into the Baltic languages and was then able toserve as the starting point for the productive suffix -esis120 Despite the reasonablymanageable amount of data that comes into consideration this starting point hasnot yet been found

Let us therefore reconsider the Latvian evidence where the suffix is no longerproductive Leskien (1891 594) lists a handful of Latvian words in -esis all ofwhich denote concrete nouns and can synchronically be associated with corre-sponding verbs although in some cases the semantic relation seems somewhatfar-fetched Two nouns the already mentioned Latv puvesis lsquopurulence rotrsquo (cfpūt lsquoto rotrsquo) and Latv gŗuveši [pl] lsquoruinsrsquo (cf grūt lsquoto collapsersquo) have counter-parts in Lithuanian (Lith puvsis lsquorotten stuffrsquo and Lith griuvsiai (pl) lsquoruinsrsquo)the other ones being limited to Latvian Latv kruvesis lsquofrozen mudrsquo (cf kŗaũt lsquotoheaprsquo) Latv tupesis lsquohaystackrsquo (cf tupēt lsquoto cowerrsquo) and Latv dzeresis lsquoa sourdrinkrsquo (cf dzert lsquoto drinkrsquo)

For some reason Leskien does not mention Latv ēdesis which has an equiv-alent in Lith desisėdesỹs Yet it is exactly this word that must have been thesource for the spreading of the suffix -esis in Lithuanian and to a lesser extent inLatvian It seems very probable that Proto-Baltic inherited a PIE s-stem h₁d-es-

117 Cf Ved puvas- (Lubotsky apud de Vaan 2005 62) Gk πύος Lat pūs lsquopurulencersquo and perhapsArm how lsquopurulent bloodrsquo All the words reflect zero grade of the root which can be interpretedas a grundsprachlich generalization of the weak stem puH-eacutes- However I do not believe that thestrong stem peacuteuH-os ever existed in the first place It is an observable phenomenon that rootsin -euH show a tendency to occur in what looks like a zero grade where one would expect anormal full grade thus appearing almost exclusively as -uH (cf Nussbaum 1986 66 note 53for this phenomenon in root nouns) The same principle can furthermore explain the zero-grades-stem PIE sriacuteHg-os gt Gk ῥῖγος Lat frīgus lsquocold frost chillrsquo cf Houmlfler 2012 157f118 Gen -io m or f also puvėsỹs pugravevėsio m LDW 3 2046 The long vowel of the suffix isclearly secondary (cf Ambrazas 1993 86f)119 Predominantly used in the pl puveši (m) cf LVV 3 443120 ldquoWir muumlszligten somit Ausschau halten nach einem indogermanischen Verbalabstrakt das insBaltische ererbt wurde und der Ansatzpunkt fuumlr das produktive Suffix -esis-esỹs sein konnte Eineindeutiges Vorbild habe ich jedoch nicht finden koumlnnenrdquo (Bammesberger 1973 86)




with the twofold121 meaning lsquoeatingrsquo and lsquowhat is eatenrsquo (gt lsquofood fodderrsquo) In anextstep it was remodeled to d-es-io- in some sort of mechanical process that didnot induce any change in semantics just as is shown by some of the other122 in-herited s-stems Because synchronically in Lithuanian desis was interpretableas an abstract to the verb sti du lsquoeat devourrsquo via the suffix -esis-esỹs this suf-fix could then be used to form verbal abstracts from all different kinds of verbs InLatvian however where the meaning of an action noun lsquoeatingrsquo was supposedlygiven up in favour of a specialized nomen rei actae lsquowhat is eaten (by animals)rsquoit served as a model for only a small group of concrete nomina rei actae the mostobvious and semantically close example being lsquowhat is drunkrsquo as Latv dzeresis lsquoasour drinkrsquo

There is one more indication of positive evidence of the erstwhile existenceof a Proto-Baltic neuter d-es- Apparently some inherited s-stems survived intoeinzelsprachlich times not only extended by -i- and -io- but occasionally alsoby -ti(o)- This seems to be the case with the hapax Lith augestis (LDW 1 2432)lsquogrowthrsquo (as if lt h₂eug-es-ti(o)- cf h₂eug-es- inVedoacutejas- lsquostrength vigor powerrsquo[RV+] Av aojah- lsquostrengthrsquo) and is most certainly the source of the marginal Lithėdestis (LKŽ 2 10431) lsquofodderrsquo

121 As Stuumlber (2002 243 et passim) points out most PIE s-stems from transitive verbal roots showthe semantics of nomina rei actae (e g lsquowhat is eatenrsquo) Originally however they also served asnomina actionis (e g lsquoeatingrsquo) which explains their being remodeled and grammaticalized asinfinitives in many languages122 In fact the pair Lith puvsis lsquorotten stuffrsquo and Latv puvesis lsquopurulence rotrsquo exhibits almostexactly the same development Since it is very probable that the two words are inherited from PIEbut at the same time stand in a synchronic relation to the verbs Lith puacuteti pųvugrave lsquorot decayrsquo (LDW3 2044) and Latv pũt puvu lsquorotrsquo (LVV 3 452) one could of course argue that the productivity ofthe suffix -esis originates from this substantive I am inclined to accept that Latv puvesis couldhave served as a model for the semantically not too remote Latv kruvesis lsquofrozen mudrsquo (unless onewants to see in this word the Latvian equivalent of the Greek neuter s-stem κρύος lsquoicy cold frostrsquowhich is formally possible and semantically at least not impossible In that case both forms wouldgo back to a stem like kruH-os kruH-es- whose phonological and morphological developmentin the two languages would have been exactly as in puH-os puH-es- gt Gk πύος Latv puvesisAs to the root in question one would easily accept that Latv kruvesis and kŗaũt belong to radickreuHlsquoaufhaumlufen bedeckenrsquo (LIVsup2 371) and that the verbal noun underwent a semantic specialization ndashcf a (dung) heap ein Haufen (Mist) etc ndash but it seems quite hard to account for Gk κρύος lsquoicycold frostrsquo under these premises For (other) possible etymological connections which do nothowever fully satisfy on morphological and semantic levels cf Chantraine 1968ndash1980 588fFrisk 1960ndash1972 2 28f Beekes 2010 1 786) but I rather doubt that a word of such specializedsemantics could be a better starting point for the spreading of the suffix than the everyday wordlsquoto eatrsquo




As for the vocalism of the s-stem in question however the Baltic words areof little explanatory power It is true that both forms seem to point towards a long-vowel derivative ēd-es-io- but the vowel length can of course be of secondaryorigin All nominal derivatives of the root123 in Baltic reflect a long ē and mayhave generalized this vocalism analogically to the verb As for the verbum thereare two possible explanations for the long vowel It may be the result of Winterrsquoslaw124 or go back to a Narten present h₁ḗd-h₁eacuted-125 Even if the Baltic languagesinherited an s-stem h₁ḗd-os as I have attempted to demonstrate the long rootvowel cannot serve as proof for a PIE lengthened grade42 Evidence for a PIE h₁ḗd-os126 is also found in Latin At a first glance howeverthe infinitive ēsse lsquoto eatrsquo (Naev+)127 seems inconclusive for our purposes be-cause even though Latin infinitives are believed to go back to locatives of neuters-stems that served as verbal abstracts128 one would expect the outcome daggerēdereor ĕdere129 (from h₁ēd-es-i or h₁ĕd-es-i) Yet some supposedly archaic infinitiveformations in Latin do also reflect a zero-grade suffix plus the assumed loc sgending (cf esse lsquoto bersquo uelle lsquoto wantrsquo ferre lsquoto bringrsquo with -se as if lt -s-i130)

123 The only counter-example is Lith dantigravesm lsquotoothrsquo OPr dantis lsquoidrsquo (h₁d-ont-) which washowever presumably already lexicalized in PIE and therefore no longer linked to the verbal root124 Proposed by Winter 1978 438f125 Proposed byNarten 1968 15 note 44with further implications cf Schindler 1975a 62 Isebaert1992 194 Kuumlmmel 1998 203f126 Very doubtful is the account by Festus that Lat ador n lsquoa kind of coarse grainrsquo had anearly form edor that implies a connection with the verb lsquoto eatrsquo (ldquoador farris genus edor quondamappellatum ab edendo (hellip)rdquo Paul Fest p 3M) The desinence -or (instead of expected daggeredus) wouldthen be reminiscent of other neuter s-stems with a leveled nom-acc sg like aequor -oris lsquosearsquorōbur -oris lsquooak tree hard timberrsquo and fulgur -uris lsquothunderboltrsquo But a change from edor to ador iscompletely ad hoc The ldquomodernrdquo etymology of ador however is also not unproblematic It mightbe related to the s-stem OIr ad lsquoa kind of grainrsquo that it glosses (cf Stokes 1887 293) and belongto the root radich₂ed lsquovertrocknenrsquo (LIVsup2 255) As for the semantics cf Festusrsquo folk-etymologicalexplanation ldquo(hellip) uel quod aduratur ut fiat tostum (hellip)rdquo127 The spelling langssrang is secondary The length of the vowel is vouched for by the demand of Nisusa grammarian of the 1st century AD for a spelling comese since the vowel in the second syllablewas long and by a Latin defixio in the Greek alphabet that spells ησσε cf Weiss 2009a 431 note27128 Of the type ǵenh₁-os loc sg ǵenh₁-es-i gt genus genere that could then be referred to athematic present of the same root (here OLat genunt lsquothey begetrsquo) cf Meiser 1998 225129 This form is in fact the analogically created infinitive and in common use since the Romanimperial period cf Meiser 1998 223130 Certainly these forms can also be analyzed as consisting of the athematic stem plus -siwhich had at some stage been reinterpreted as an infinitive suffix all the more so because it isdoubtful whether the s-stems h₁es-os uel (h₁)-os and bʰer-os ever existed in the first place




If one as per Peters 2002 123 accepts that the origin of infinitives of the typeLat dīxe (synchronically a perfect infinitive)131 and Gk δεῖξαι (synchronically asigmatic aorist infinitive) lies in a directiveallative in -a of an s-stem (viz deḱ-s-a132)133 implying that the all sg of proterokinetic stems (as much as the instrsg)134 followed the hysterokinetic pattern then Lat ēssemight also be analyzedin this respect as an archaic formation h₁d-s-a (vel sim)with leveled root ablautBut even if this interpretation were correct the vowel length could be explainedfor example via Lachmannrsquos law135 and need not be original43 The Vedic compound riacuteśdas- (RV+) is used as an epithet for various godsThere are two main interpretations of the underlying stems136 The first optionwould be lsquoSorge um den Fremdling tragendrsquo with rideg for ariacute- in composition(Hrideg cf also Peters 1986 370 note 18) and the s-stem śādas- (cf Gk κῆδοςlsquocare mourningrsquo Goth hatis137 lsquohatersquo)138 the other one being lsquoSpeise rupfendrsquo(= lsquofastidious pickyrsquo) with riśadeg from radicriś lsquopluck riprsquo (cf VIA 228) and adas-from h₁ed-es- Even if the latter analysis is the correct one it is of little help for

despite Ved bhaacuteras- lsquocare maintenancersquo (AV) Gk προ-φερής lsquoexcellentrsquo (Il προφερέστερος +)for both of which Stuumlber (2002 64) considers an einzelsprachlich origin plus arm ber(klsquo) lsquoharvestfruitrsquo which need not continue an s-stem paceMatzinger 2005 41f Therefore ēssemay also beanalyzed as an analogical formation of the athematic stem ed- plus -se131 Unless it stands for dīxisse by haplology cf Sommer 1914 589f The form appears e g inPlaut Poen 961132 Of course Latinmust have replaced the ending -a analogically by -i or -e() or one assumesan original directive ending -awhich would perhaps have ended up as -e (as per Weiss 2009a446)133 Ved jiṣeacute (RV 11114 111212) which also perhaps belongs here has been identified by Stuumlberas an infinitive of the root radicji (VIA 187) lsquoto conquerrsquo (PIE radicgue lsquoto prevail winrsquo LIVsup2 206)viz from a dat sg gui-s-eacute cf Stuumlber 2000 152 Of course she assumes that the underlyingsubstantive was non-neuter because of the structural correspondence to the amphikinetic s-stemsbhiyaacutes- m or f lsquofearrsquo (instr sg bhīṣ lt bʰih₂-s-eacuteh₁) and uṣaacutes- f lsquodawnrsquo (gen abl sg uṣaacutes lth₂us-s-eacutes) In the light of the aforementioned proposal the form could however reflect theperfectly shaped all sg gui-s-aacute of a neuter s-stem gue-os134 Cf Stifter 1997 219 with reference to Schindler Nussbaum and Peters135 Cf Weiss 2009a 175 and also pres ind 2nd sg ēs (lt h₁ed-s) 3rd sg ēst (from h₁ed-t gt daggerēsplus analogically restored -t) unless one ascribes the length to the Narten present (cf Isebaert1992 195f Weiss 2009a 431) which might be furthermore suggested by the subj (larr opt) edī- (cfKuumlmmel 1998 203 and note 49)136 Cf EWAia 2 451137 The Germanic continuants (cf also ON hatr OE hete) could reflect the zero-grade root ablautof the proterokinetic weak stem of this word (ḱeh₂d-os ḱh₂d-eacutes-) or the short vowel wasanalogically introduced from the verb (Goth hatan lsquoto hatersquo etc cf Casaretto 2004 561)138 Cf Pinault 2000 441ff for this interpretation and a thorough discussion of the compound




our purposes since it could of course also reflect riśa-ādas- with a long-vocalich₁ēd-es- as the second member of the compound44 Some severe problems also lie behind Umbr ezariaf139 (IV 27) if the inter-pretation as an acc pl of a derivative h₁ed-es-āso- is correct and the meaningis something like lsquofood (as an oblation)rsquo We would then however expect anunrhotacized outcome of the suffix -āso- as suggested by plenasier urnasier(Va 2)140 etc Besides d should be reflected as ř or at least adjacent to z (fromintervocalic s) dissimilated to rs141 Meiser therefore suggests a series of con-ditioned sound changes142 to account for the peculiar spelling Yet it is far fromcertain that the word belongs here so it should better be left out45 In Greekwe find somewords that at a first glance seem to reflect derivativesof a stem ἐδεσ- To this small group belong ἐδεστής lsquoeaterrsquo (Hdt Antiph) ἔδεσμαn lsquofoodrsquo (Att) ἐδεστέον lsquoonemust eatrsquo (Plat) and ἐδεστός lsquoeatable good for foodrsquo(Att) However these formations are usually regarded as deverbal

Frisk for example explains ἐδεστής ἔδεσμα and ἐδεστός as built in someway or other on the stems of ἠδέσϑην (aor pass) and ἐδήδε(σ)μαι (perf med)which themselves are Greek innovations probably after ἐτελέσϑην τετέλεσμαιᾔδέσϑην ἀλήλε(σ)μαι and the like143 This account however seems somewhatarbitrary

Benveniste showed144 that ἐδεστής is better analyzed as a remodeling of asimplex agent noun ἐστής (lt ἐδ-τής for ἐδ- cf also εἶδαρ lsquofoodrsquo [Il+] lt ἐδ-ϝαρ)ndash that was at a synchronic level semantically opaque145 ndash by re-adding ἐδ- in orderto restore the relationship with ἔδω ἔδομαι etc From then on the newly createdstem ἐδεσ- (actually containing double ἐδ- from two different chronological lay-

139 It is unclear which phoneme was expressed by langzrang but possibly dz or ts cf Meiser 1986240140 Both forms are in the abl pl as if lt pln-āsos orden-āsos () cf Untermann 2000 563fand 806f141 Of course there is only one example for this development see note 49 above142 He assumes that before the operating of the regular rhotacism in a sequence of three frica-tives (as in eethezāziā- or eethezāsā-) the third one was dissimilated to r and that consequentlyin syncopated eethzārā- the eth was dissimilated in vicinity of r to d again leading to edzāra- oretsāra- written as langezaria-rang cf Meiser 1986 239f143 Cf Frisk 1960ndash1972 1 444f Similarly Chantraine 1968ndash1980 312f and more recently Beekes2010 1 375144 Cf Benveniste 1964 28ndash30 but similarly already Chantraine 1933 317145 The simplex survived in compounds such as ὠμηστής lsquoeater of raw fleshrsquo gt lsquoferociousrsquo (with-η- from compositional lengthening cf also Ved āmd- lsquoRohes essendrsquo (RV 10877d) cf Scarlata1999 34) where the semantic connection to the verb had (gradually) been lost cf Benveniste1964 29




ers) was able to serve as the basis for formations like ἔδεσμα and ἐδεστός146 Theungainly detour via the passive aorist may therefore easily be bypassed

What remains conspicuous however is the obvious but hitherto neglectedconnection of these forms with other derivatives of s-stem bases For instancefrom τέλος n lsquoend goal fulfillment executive function office tax expense mil-itary unit etcrsquo (Hom+) we find τελεστής lsquoan official priest initiatorrsquo (Cleanth)and Hsch βουτελέστην ϑύτην lsquosacrificerrsquo τέλεσμα lsquomoney paid or to be paidpaymentrsquo (GDI 374955 etc Diod S) τελεστός lsquofulfilledrsquo (IG IIsup2 4548) and ἀ-τελεστός lsquowithout end unaccomplishedrsquo (Hom+) It seems evident that these tosome extent rather late and marginal formations are derived from the denom-inative verb τελέω τελείω (as if lt teleacutes-eo-147) lsquoto finish complete initiateto discharge payrsquo (Il+)148 But it is difficult on a semantic level149 and nearlyimpossible on a formal one150 to decide whether the derivational base was thenominal or the verbal stem In principle the same can be said about ἄκος n lsquocureremedyrsquo (Il+) and ἀκέομαι lsquoto cure repairrsquo (Il+) We find ἀκεστής lsquopatcher tai-lorrsquo151 (Xen+) ἀκέσματα n pl (Il +) ἄκεσμα (Aesch+) lsquoremedy medecinersquo andἀκεστός lsquocurablersquo (Il 13115 Hp Antiphon)152

146 Benveniste even shows that these two formations (plus ἐδεστέον) may have been createdin immediate analogy to the derivatives of their semantic counterpart πίνω lsquoto drinkrsquo viz πόμα(Pind) πῶμα (Aesch) ποτός (Hom+) and ποτέον147 But cf in detail Peters 1984 99148 Yet Chantraine 1968ndash1980 1102 andFrisk 1960ndash1972 2 871f regardἀ-τελεστός asdenominalas well as dial τελεστα lsquosome kind of officialrsquo (from Elis cf Bechtel 1923 848 and also Chantraine1933 313) which must in my opinion be identical with the (perhaps only coincidentally) lateattested τελεστής and also with Myc te-re-ta lsquoidrsquo (cf DMic 2 338f)149 The clear deverbative meaning of ἐδεστός lsquoeatenrsquo (Soph Ant 206) is attested at the same timeas lsquoeatable good for foodrsquo and ἐδεστά pl lsquomeatsrsquo (Eur Fr 47219) for which the semantic analysisas deverbative lsquo(what is) eatenrsquo gt lsquoeatable(s)rsquo is also acceptable Cf also ποτός lsquofor drinkingrsquo andποτόν lsquoa drinkrsquo A denominative interpretationwould require a development lsquoprovidedwith eatinghaving foodrsquo (cf the type Lat barbātus Lith barzdoacutetas lsquohaving a beardrsquo) gt lsquoeatable(s)rsquo whichmight seem less convincing150 Thedeverbative use of -μα iswell-attestedwhile there is onlymarginal evidence for denominalformations (cf Schwyzer 1939 522ndash4 Risch 1974 49f) For -τής and -τός both formation patternsare well documented (cf Schwyzer 1939 499ndash501 and 501ndash03 Risch 1974 33ndash5 and 19ndash21)151 In this case the meaning clearly indicates that the form is deverbal since only the verbἀκέομαι also has the specialized meaning lsquoto repairrsquo which is needed to account for lsquopatchertailorrsquo152 For the latter Frisk 1960ndash1972 1 56 for some reason accepts a denominal origin




But this pattern cannot account for κηδεστής lsquorelative by marriagersquo153 (Eur+)and perhaps ἀ-κήδεστος lsquocareless unburiedrsquo154 (Il+) since there is no denom-inative verb daggerκηδέω from κῆδος n lsquocare mourning funeral rites connection bymarriage affinityrsquo (Il+) that could have served as a verbal base The same appliesexcept for the accent to κεράστης lsquohorned (being)rsquo (Soph Eur of ἔλαφος Πάνetc) formed directly from the stem of the neuter κέρας lsquohornrsquo

If derivatives in -τής (and maybe also -μα and -τός) could thus be directly de-rived from s-stem bases one could argue the same origin for ἐδεστής (and alsoἔδεσμα and ἐδεστός) and therefore claim the existence at some time of a sim-plex ἔδος ἔδεσ- that for some reasonwas not preserved in anywritten accountof the Greek language As absurd as this assumption may sound at first it is ex-actly this strategy that is commonly accepted for explaining ἀργεστής an epithetfor the south wind (νότος Il) and the west wind (Zέφυρος Hes) also Ἀργέστης(Arist etc) as the name of this wind155 where a verbal base does not exist

It is hardly possible to disprove either of the two outlined attempts to explainἐδεστής ἔδεσμα and ἐδεστός since both approaches provide lucid arguments156

But it is after all suspicious that there is no undoubted trace of a simplex ἔδοςin Greek157 Benvenistersquos hypothesis might therefore be preferred

153 Both Frisk 1960ndash1972 1 836f and Chantraine 1933 313 Chantraine 1968ndash1980 523 designateit as denominal154 Frisk identifies it with the synonymous ἀ-κηδής (Il+) and implies a denominal originwhereasChantraine (1968ndash1980 523) interprets it as deverbal from ἀκηδέω (Hom Aesch S) whichitself would be denominative from ἀ-κηδής For the coexistence of internally derived possessivecompounds (ἀ-κηδής) and compounds with a possessive suffix (ἀ-κήδεστος) cf also Widmer 2013190155 With contrastive accent cf Frisk 1960ndash1972 1 132 Chantraine 1968ndash1980 104 The s-stemἄργος is furthermore implied by the compound ἐναργής lsquoclearly visible prominent splendidrsquo(Hom) and the adjective ἀργεννός lsquowhitersquo (Il) lt ἀργεσ-νός Benveniste (1964 29) also citesἀργεστής and κηδεστής as examples of denominal derivatives of the type that served as a modelfor reinterpreting ἐδεστής (lt ἐδ- + ἐδ-τής) as ἐδεσ-τής156 Another point for Benvenistersquos proposition comes from a seemingly parallel formation ἐδωδήlsquofood mealrsquo (Il+) which he analyzes as ἐδ- + ὠδή cf Benveniste 1964 32 and more recentlyVine 1998 695ndash7 as ἐδ- + ὤδη157 Maybe however it is not ἔδος that we should be looking for but ἦδος There is a neuter ofthis appearance in Homer ἦδος lsquodelight pleasurersquo (Il+) and later lsquovinegar (as a flavoring)rsquo (Attsemantics based on the denominative ἡδῡνω lsquomake pleasant season (a dish)rsquo cf Chantraine1968ndash1980 406) that as opposed to ἥδομαι lsquoto rejoicersquo and ἡδύς lsquosweet tasteful pleasantpleasingrsquo (Il+) exhibits an absence of aspiration and only doubtful traces of the digamma (but cfDor ἇδος (in both senses) and Hsch γᾶδος γάλα ἄλλοι ὄξος) for which there is no satisfactoryexplanation (cf Chantraine 1958 184 and 151) Is it possible that ἦδος lsquofoodrsquo and ἧδος lsquopleasurersquomerged into one word The merging point might have been the possessive compound ἀηδής




46 Another piece of evidence of PIE h₁ed-es- can be found in Finn ateria158

lsquomealrsquo which was identified by Schindler (1963 205f) as a borrowing fromProto-Norse āteRja lt PGerm ētez(i)jan ultimately reflecting a derivative h₁ḗd-es-(i)o-m159 lsquofoodrsquo If this etymology is to be taken seriously we also have to finda reasonable explanation for the long root vowel that in the case of Germaniccannot be traced back to a short ĕ by any expected regular sound development160

47 There is another derivative fromabase h₁ēd-(e)s- in theGermanic languagesnamely h₁ēd-s-o- n (in OEngl ǣs lsquofood carrionrsquo OFris ēs MHG acircs lsquocadaverrsquoetc161)which seems tohave an equivalent in Tocharian (B yetse A yatsm lsquo(outer)skinrsquo cf Adams 1999 507f) and in Russ ясaacute (jasaacute) f lsquomeal course of a mealrsquo162

(lt h₁ēd-s-eh₂-) Morphologically these forms either reflect thematic derivativesof a long-vocalic base h₁ēd-(e)s- or vṛddhi-derivatives of a short-vocalic stem

lsquounpleasantrsquo (Sappho Hdt Pl) with a specialized meaning lsquodistasteful nauseous (of food drugsetc)rsquo (Hippocr Pl) which could have been interpreted as both ἀ + ἡδής lsquohavingprovidingno delightrsquo and ἀ(ν) + ἠδής lsquohavingproviding no eatingfoodrsquo (with ἀνηδής for νηδής as inἀνωφελής lsquouselessrsquo for νωφελής (cf Myc no-pe-re-a₂ nōpʰeleʰa DMic 1 477f) from ὄφελοςlsquopromotion use advantage gainrsquo there seems to have been a certain amount of oscillationbetween ἀ- and ἀν- before a vowel h- and former digamma leading to ldquoirregularrdquo combinationsof ἀ- plus an original vowel (cf Lejeune 1971b 37ff) that would have encouraged the proposedconfusion of ἀ + ἡδής and ἀ + ἠδής (larr ἀν + ἠδής)) Once the overlapping semantics lsquounpleasant(to eat)rsquo and lsquounpleasant (in general)rsquo coalesced the second compound member could no longerbe distinguished Thus the reanalyzed simplex might have inherited qua eacutetymologie croiseacutee themeaning of the one and the form of the other But since the compound is attested relatively latethis idea remains idle speculation158 Cf also the dialectal variants atria aria arja and Vepsian ateŕǵ ateŕ lsquotime between mealsrsquo159 The formal similarity to the proposed PBalt ēd-es-io- might only be of coincidental originas the remodeling of PIE s-stems to i- and io-stems was identified above as an inner-Balticdevelopment whereas in Germanic most of the neuter s-stems were directly thematized (cfSchaffner 2001 588 Casaretto 2004 555) However the parallelism is conspicuous160 A vṛddhi-derivative (see above 32) from a base h₁ed-esis likewise both morphologicallyimprobable (expected h₁ḗd-(e)s-o- [see below47]would havehad to be remodeled to h₁ḗd-es-o-unless one concedes the marginal existence of vṛddhi-derivatives with -o- as per Darms 197831 for bases in -eh₂-) and semantically doubtful (lsquobelonging to foodrsquo ge lsquofood mealrsquo) but seebelow 47161 Cf EWAhd 1 407 Differently Seebold (1970 180) who assumes ēd-to- gtǣs-a- cf also Latēsus lsquoeatenrsquo (lt h₁ed-to- with Lachmannrsquos law) OPr īstai (dat sg n) lsquofoodrsquo and OCS jasto nlsquomeal portionrsquo (both with Winter lengthening) cf NIL 211 thus also Ringe 2006 88162 Cf REW 3 495 The word is reminiscent of similar -eh₂-formations with a lengthened rootvowel in Balto-Slavic that are usually regarded as feminine vṛddhi-derivatives cf Nussbaum 19868 Villanueva Svensson 2011 30ndash2 differently Pronk 2012 211ndash3 The long vowel can howeverbe analogical cf also Russ едaacute (jedaacute) lsquomeal foodrsquo (as if lt h₁ēd-eh₂-) and Russ ежaacute (ježaacute) lsquomealfoodrsquo (as if lt h₁ēd-(i)eh₂-) REW 1 391f




h₁ĕd-(e)s- Semantically both interpretations do not really produce smooth re-sults The first option would imply a possessive derivative lsquohaving or providingfoodrsquowhich in the case of Germanic would have been synonymous to lsquofoodrsquo andthen develop via a process of semantic narrowing and degeneration163 to lsquocar-rion cadaverrsquo

A vṛddhi-derivative lsquobelonging to or consisting of foodrsquo would make just asmuch sense theoretically at least for Germanic Another possibility164 is thath₁d-es- already developed a meaning lsquomeat fleshrsquo in early times and that thederivative thus denoted lsquobelonging to the meat fleshrsquo as the edible parts of akilled animal in contrast to the bones etc In Tocharian themeaning would havebeen specialized from lsquobelonging to the fleshrsquo to lsquo(outer) skinrsquo

But even if we ascribe the length in h₁ēd-s-o- and its continuants to thedeus ex machina-process of vṛddhi-derivation we still find additional long-vowelforms in the thematic neuters ON aacutet lsquofood mealrsquo OEngl ǣt OHG āz lsquomealrsquo (as iflt h₁ēd-o-) and feminine OHG āza lsquomealrsquo (as if lt h₁ēd-eh₂- cf Lith da Russ едaacute[jedaacute])165 etc that seem to indicate that also in h₁ēd-s-o- the length had better beregarded as original

As opposed to the aforementioned examples in Balto-Slavic and Latin at-tempted explanations such as Winterrsquos and Lachmannrsquos law or analogical influ-ence from the verb are virtually impossible in the case of Germanic Neither isthere any (accepted) sound law that would account for long ē before certain con-sonant clusters nor does the verb in Germanic show a lengthened grade in thepresent stem166 that could have been transferred analogically to other formations

163 Cf for these notions in general Bloomfield 1935 426f and in particular the similar exampleOEnglmete lsquofoodrsquo gtmeat lsquoedible fleshrsquo164 Melanie Malzahn (p c)165 Cf EWAhd 1 406f As mentioned above (see note 31) a long vowel is found frequently in-eh₂-formations at least in Germanic and might therefore not come as a great surprise (cf alsoVillanueva Svensson 2011 7)166 Cf Goth itan ON eta OEngl etan OHG ezzan etc as thematized continuants (h₁ed-eo- gtPGmc iti- eta-) of the weak stem of a Narten present h₁ḗd- h₁eacuted- cf Ringe 2006 174Thelengthened grade is found in the preterite (cf Goth et ON aacutet OEngl ǣt OHG āz etc fromh₁e-h₁d- cf LIVsup2 231 note 13 and Ringe 2006 185) but I see no chance that the preterite stemcould have influenced the nominal forms




of this root167 It seems therefore as if they reflected derivatives of an s-stemwitha genuine lengthened grade168

48 The remaining derivatives of an s-stembasewith a suffixal zero grade knownto me are predominantly from Balto-Slavic In most of the cases it is impossibleto tell whether the form is a secondary derivative of an s-stem or a derivative viaa complex suffix with an anlauting s whose origin may or may not be based on areinterpretation of some of these secondary derivatives The vowel length can inall places be basically explained byWinterrsquos andor Lachmannrsquos law but there isno reason at all to assume that it cannot just as well be original

The forms of certain particular interest are169 h₁ēd-s-l(i)o- (Latv ēslis lsquosome-one who constantly masticates gluttonrsquo and OCS jasli Russ ясли (jaacutesli) etc pllsquocrib mangerrsquo which match formally but obviously not semantically) h₁ēd-s-meh₂- (Latv ȩsma f lsquobait for wolvesrsquo) h₁ēd-s-neh₂- (Lith snos f pl lsquogingiva

167 Suspiciously enough there are also substantives that clearly reflect a short root vowel (cfOHG ezza lsquoindulgencersquo as if lt h₁ed-eh₂- OHG ezzo lsquogluttonrsquo as if lt h₁ed-on- OEngl etol ettulOHG filu-ezzal lsquogluttonousrsquo as if lt h₁ed-ulo-) However these could be more recent deverbalformations as opposed to the above-mentioned long-vocalic forms that considering their occur-rence in North- and West- and with Goth uz-eta lsquocribrsquo and af-etja lsquogluttonrsquo (GothED 208) also inEast-Germanic would date back to an earlier stage168 Another conspicuous feature of the discussed Germanic derivatives is that they reflect twodifferent derivational bases h₁ēd-es- and h₁ēd-s- It is hard to determine the formal or semanticdifference between the two stems More generally speaking it is far from clear what secondaryderivatives of s-stems are supposed to look like and what conclusions can be drawn from thevarious formations showing different root and suffixal ablaut In Vedic for instance we find intotal four different types of thematic derivatives of s-stems (cf for this Debrunner 1954 126f and136f) There are regular vṛddhi-derivatives of the structure R(ā)-as-aacute- (cf āyasaacute- lsquomade of ironrsquofrom aacuteyas- lsquoironrsquo) possessive derivatives without vṛddhi as R(a)-as-aacute- (cf rabhasaacute- lsquowild violentrsquofrom raacutebhas- lsquoviolencersquo) some forms with a zero-grade suffix R(a)-s-aacute- Cf vatsaacute- lsquocalfrsquo lt lsquoyearlingrsquofrom uet-es- lsquoyearrsquo as in Gk ἔτος lsquoidrsquo and also OIr feis Middle Welsh gwys OBret guis OCornguis lsquosowrsquo lt uet-s-ih₂- (cf Stuumlber 2002 188)) and one instance of a derivative with zero grade inthe root and the suffix R(oslash)-s-aacute- (uacutetsa- lsquospring wellrsquo lt lsquohaving waterrsquo (cf EWAia 1 215 also forequivalents in the Iranian languages) from ued-es- lsquowaterrsquo as in Arm get -oy lsquoriverrsquo (cf Olsen1999 45f Matzinger 2005 43) and Gk ὕδος n (Call Fr 475) dat sg ὕδει (HesOp61) lsquowaterrsquo (cfChantraine 1968ndash1980 1153 according to Nussbaum 1986 203 note 16 the latter can also belongto a root noun) with a zero grade by analogy to the far more frequent synonymous heterocliteὕδωρ which itself according to Schindler (1975b 3f) generalized the root vocalism of the weakstem The lexicalized semantics of the latter two seem to indicate that their formation is the moreancient one Yet it remains unclear how the Germanic forms fit into this picture169 Cf for this IEW 288f NIL 210




gumsrsquo) and h₁ēd-s-keh₂- (Lat ēsca170 f lsquofood baitrsquo Lith ėskagrave f lsquofood fodder ap-petitersquo Latv ēšķa and ēšķis lsquoglutton scolding personrsquo)49 In conclusion and consideration of the abundance of derivatives it seemsfairly safe to assume that an s-stem h₁d-os must have existed well into einzel-sprachlich times even though there is no trace of the simplex itself This pecu-liarity might be due to the variety of other synonymous and therefore competingderivatives of the root radich₁ed and simultaneously a consequence of the tendencyto recharacterize apparently sub-characterized derivatives (like a simple s-stem)by extending them via additional stem formants171 It is also clear however thatthe discussed derivatives have in principle only little significance when we tryto determine the root ablaut of the underlying simplex As we have seen it is pos-sible to explain the vowel length in some cases as resulting secondarily from cer-tain presupposed sound laws or from the analogical influence of associated ver-bal forms Yet in some cases as in OEnglǣs lsquofood carrionrsquo etc and Toch B yetselsquo(outer) skinrsquo such an approach is doubtful Taken together therefore the evi-dence speaks in favor of a long-vowel formation h₁ēd-os h₁ēd-es- which thenaccounts for all the discussed continuants and derivatives And assuming a long-vowel pre-form makes perfect sense in the light of the working hypothesis of thispaper if we assert that the s-stem lsquofoodrsquo was connected to the secondary seman-tics172 of theNarten present h₁ḗd-ti lsquoeatsrsquo rather than to the root radich₁ed lsquoto bitersquo173

and that that it consequently owes its long vowel to the present lsquoto eatrsquo

5 ConclusionAfter going through all these examples we are now able to draw a conclusion Aswe have seen it is perfectly possible to explain long-vowel s-stems like Gk μήδεαArm mit and the various derivatives andor continuants of h₁ēd-(e)s- as being

170 Cf for this pattern also Gk λέσχη lsquoresting placersquo lt legʰ-s-keh₂- from leacutegʰ-os lsquobedrsquo (λέχοςlsquoidrsquo) cf Isebaert 1992 203 andWelsh gwisg lsquogarmentrsquo lt uēs-s-keh₂- for which see above note 14171 Cf for similar processes Matzinger 2008 25ff172 Cf Schindler 1975a 62 Peters 1980 24 note 24 Isebaert 1992 194 Kuumlmmel 1998 203f173 Therefore a hypothetical s-stem h₁ĕd-es- should have had the semantics of lsquoa bite a bit achunkrsquo It may be exactly this word that served as the basis for Hitt ezza- izza- n lsquochaffrsquo (HEG1 119 ldquoStroh Spreurdquo HED 321 ldquochaffrdquo also symbolic of or idiomatic for ldquo(stored) holdings(material) goodsrdquo HWsup2 2 141 ldquoSpreu Haumlckselrdquo) whose etymology has until now been obscure(cf HEG HED HWsup2 loc cit) On the phonological side Hitt ezza- would be the perfectly expectedoutcome of a thematic derivative h₁ĕd-s-o- whose morphology on the other hand can be neatlycompared to uĕt-s-o- gt Ved vatsaacute- lsquocalfrsquo from uet-es- lsquoyearrsquo As for the semantic relation in ques-




built on or remodeled after verbal Narten formations rather than to assume thePIE acrostatic substantives mḗd-s meacuted-s- h₁ḗd-s h₁eacuted-s- and the like On theother hand identifying ON saeligtr as a vṛddhi-derivative and proposing an eacutetymolo-gie croiseacutee for OIr siacuted probably also solves the riddle of the mirage sḗd-s seacuted-s-I am inclined to believe that similar solutions might also apply to the remainingldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems for some of which a proposal has indeed been uttered in thecourse of this paper The concept of ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems as a whole might there-fore have to be abandoned Perhaps the same holds true for Narten roots at leastsensu stricto But considering the many different possible interpretations of long-vowel nominal formations one has to conclude that yet again all has not beensaid and done

Acknowledgement This paper is based on my masterrsquos thesis Untersuchungenzum Ablaut der neutralen s-Staumlmme des Indogermanischen (Houmlfler 2012) elaborat-ing the assumptions and improving the views presented there I ammuch obligedto Prof Melanie Malzahn Prof Martin Peters and my colleague Oliver Ploumltz forsharing their thoughts with me for answering my questions and for helping mewith some detailed problems I am also indebted to the anonymous reviewers ofthe IF for the very helpful comments Of course however I alone am responsiblefor all conclusions drawn here and for any errors of fact or judgment The workon this paper was made possible by a DOC scholarship of the Austrian Academyof Sciences for which I am also very grateful

tion one would have to start from an already metaphorically used base lsquoa bitrsquo the possessivederivative of which would have developed from lsquohaving consisting of bitsrsquo to lsquomass of small bitsrsquowhence lsquochaffrsquo A similar semantic development is not only vouched for by English lsquoto bitersquo and lsquoabitrsquo lsquobitsrsquo but also for example by Vedmardaacuteyati lsquogrinds crushes squelchesrsquo Latmordeō lsquoIbitersquo and East Frismurt lsquobroumlckelige Masse Staubrsquo Swiss Germmurzmorz lsquosmall piecesrsquo (IEW736f) or Lith kaacutendu kąsti lsquoto bitersquo and Latv kņadas lsquoNachbleibsel beim Getreidereinigenrsquo (LVV2 252) and by the English word chaff itself (OE ceaf Dutch kaf German Kaff n etc) which(as insinuated e g by Holthausen 1934 44 Onions 1966 160) possibly belongs to a root radicǵebʰlsquoessen kauenrsquo (LIVsup2 161 cf OLith žėbmi lsquoesse langsam kauersquo OCS i-zobati lsquoverzehrtrsquo etc) andits derivatives German Kiefer lsquojawrsquo Kaumlfer lsquobeetlersquo English chafer MHG kiven kiffen lsquoto gnawrsquo plustheir various cognates within the Germanic languages (for which cf IEW 382) But of course thisetymology remains a mere construct since it will be hard to either verify or falsify it




AbbreviationsABL Anna Stafecka et al (2009) Atlas of the Baltic Languages A Prospect Rīga

amp Vilnius Latvijas Universitātes Latviešu valodas institūts amp Lietuvių kalbosinstitutas

DMic Francisco Aura Jorro amp Francisco Rodriacuteguez Adrados (1985ndash1993) Diccionariomiceacutenico 2 vols Madrid Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifiacutecas Insti-tuto de Filologiacutea

EWAhd Albert L Lloyd Otto Springer amp Rosemarie Luumlhr eds (1988ndash) Etymologis-ches Woumlrterbuch des Althochdeutschen Goumlttingen amp Zuumlrich Vandenhoeck ampRuprecht

EWAia Manfred Mayrhofer (1986ndash2001) Etymologisches Woumlrterbuch des Altindoari-schen 3 vols Heidelberg Winter

GothED Winfried P Lehmann (1986) A Gothic Etymological Dictionary Leiden BrillHED Jaan Puhvel (1984ndash) Hittite Etymological Dictionary 9 vols Berlin amp New York

MoutonHEG Johann Tischler (1974ndash) Hethitisches etymologisches Glossar Mit Beitraumlgen

von Guumlnter Neumann und Erich Neu 4 vols Innsbruck Institut fuumlr Sprachwis-senschaft

HWsup2 Johannes Freidrich amp Annelies Kammenhuber (1975ndash) Hethitisches Woumlrterbuch2nd ed 3 vols Heidelberg Winter

IEW Julius Pokorny (1989) Indogermanisches etymologisches Woumlrterbuch 2nd edVol 1 Bern amp Stuttgart Franke

LDW Alexander T Kurschat amp Wilhelm Wissmann (1968ndash73) Litauisch-deutschesWoumlrterbuch Thesaurus linguae Lituanicae 4 vols Goumlttingen Vandenhoeck ampRuprecht

LEW Ernst Fraenkel (1962ndash1965) Litauisches etymologisches Woumlrterbuch 2 volsGoumlttingen amp Heidelberg Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht Winter

LIVsup2 Helmut Rix (2001) Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben Die Wurzeln und ihrePrimaumlrstammbildungen Unter Leitung von Helmut Rix bearbeitet von Martin JKuumlmmel Thomas Zehnder Reiner Lipp Brigitte Schirmer 2nd ed WiesbadenReichert

LKŽ Lietuvių kalbos žodynas (1941ndash2002) 20 vols Vilnius Mintis amp MokslasLVV Jānis Endzelīns ed (1923ndash1932) K Mǖlenbacha Latviešu valodas vārdnīca

4 vols Rīga Izdevusi izglītības ministrijaNIL Dagmar S Wodtko Britta Irslinger amp Carolin Schneider (2008) Nomina im indo-

germanischen Lexikon Heidelberg WinterREW Max Vasmer (1953ndash1958) Russisches etymologisches Woumlrterbuch 3 vols Hei-

delberg WinterVIA Chlodwig H Werba (1997) Verba Indoarica Die primaumlren und sekundaumlren

Wurzeln der Sanskrit-Sprache Wien Akademie der Wissenschaften




BibliographyAdams Douglas Q (1985) ldquoSanskrit puacutemān Latin pūbēs and related wordsrdquo In Die Sprache

311 1ndash16mdash (1999) A Dictionary of Tocharian B Amsterdam amp Atlanta RodopiAmbrazas Saulius (1993)Daiktavardžių Darybos Raida Lietuvių Kalbos Veiksmažodiniai Vediniai

Vilnius Mokslo ir Enciklopedijų Leidyklamdash (1994) ldquoZur Entwicklung der Abstraktbildungen im Baltischenrdquo In Indogermanische

Forschungen 99 277ndash300Balles Irene (2006)Die altindische Cvi-Konstruktion Form Funktion Ursprung Bremen HempenBammesberger Alfred (1973) Abstraktbildungen in den baltischen Sprachen Goumlttingen Vanden-

hoeck amp RuprechtBechtel Friedrich (1923) Die griechischen Dialekte Berlin Weidmannsche BuchhandlungBeekes Robert S P (1988) ldquoPIE RHC- in Greek and other languagesrdquo In Indogermanische

Forschungen 93 22ndash45mdash (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek With the assistance of Lucien van Beek 2 vols

Leiden amp Boston BrillBenedetti Marina (1988) I composti radicali latini Esame storico e comparativo Pisa Giardini

EdBenveniste Eacutemile (1964) ldquoRenouvellement lexical et deacuterivation en grec ancienrdquo In Bulletin de la

Socieacuteteacute de Linguistique de Paris 59 24ndash39mdash (1969) Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-europeacuteennes 2 vols Paris Les Eacuteditions de

MinuitDe Bernardo Stempel Patrizia (1999) Nominale Wortbildung des aumllteren Irischen Stammbildung

und Derivation Tuumlbingen NiemeyerBertocci Davide (2012) ldquoSurvivings of the -eh₁-stative morphology in Umbrian and Latinrdquo

In The Sounds of Indo-European Papers on Indo-European Phonetics Phonemics andMorphophonemics Ed by Roman Sukač amp Ondřej Šefčiacutek Vol 2 Muumlnchen Lincom Europa14ndash28

Bloomfield Leonard (1935) Language London Allen amp UnwinBuck Carl Darling (1904) A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian Boston Ginn amp CompanyCasaretto Antje (2004) Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache Die Derivation der Sub-

stantive Heidelberg WinterChantraine Pierre (1933) La formation des noms en grec ancien Paris Klincksieckmdash (1958) Grammaire homeacuterique Vol 1 Phoneacutetique et morphologie 2nd ed Paris Klincksieckmdash (1968ndash1980) Dictionnaire eacutetymologique de la langue grecque Histoire des mots 2 vols

Paris KlincksieckClackson James (1994) The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and Greek Oxford Black-

wellDarms Georges (1978) Schwaumlher und Schwager Hahn und Huhn Die Vddhi-Ableitung im

Germanischen Muumlnchen KitzingerDebrunner Albert (1954) Altindische Grammatik Vol 22 Die Nominalsuffixe Goumlttingen Van-

denhoeck amp RuprechtDerksen Rick (1996)Metatony in Baltic Amsterdam amp Atlanta RodopiDottin Georges (1985) La langue gauloise Grammaire textes et glossaire Paris Klincksieck




Eichner Heiner (1973) ldquoDie Etymologie von hethmehurrdquo InMuumlnchener Studien zur Sprachwis-senschaft 31 53ndash107

Ernout Alfred (1965) Philologica III Paris KlincksieckFraenkel Ernst (1936) ldquoDie indogermanischen -l-Staumlmmerdquo In Zeitschrift fuumlr vergleichende

Sprachforschung 63 168ndash201Frisk Hjalmar (1960ndash1972) Griechisches etymologisches Woumlrterbuch 3 vols Heidelberg WinterGriffith Aaron (2005) ldquo-n(C)s in Celticrdquo In Die Sprache 45 44ndash67Hartmann Markus (2012) ldquoZum Ablaut der neutralen s-Staumlmme des Indogermanischenrdquo In

International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction 9 51ndash85Hilmarsson Joumlrundur (1987) ldquoReflexes of I-E suH₂nto--ōn lsquosunnyrsquo in Germanic and Tocharianrsquordquo

In Die Sprache 331ndash2 56ndash78Houmlfler Stefan (2012)Untersuchungen zumAblaut der neutralen s-Staumlmmedes Indogermanischen

Diplomarbeit Wienmdash (2013) Ist der Wettergott ein Himmelsgott Indogermanische Goumltternamen und ihr Beitrag

zur internen Derivation Paper presented at the 1 Grazer Kolloquium zur indogermanischenAltertumskunde 14ndash15 November 2013 Karl-Franzens-Universitaumlt Graz

Holthausen Ferdinand (1934) Altenglisches etymologisches Woumlrterbuch Heidelberg WinterIrslinger Britta (2009) ldquoIndogermanische Abstraktsuffixe ndash synchron und diachronrdquo In Protolan-

guage and Prehistory Akten der XII Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Krakau11 bis 15 Oktober 2004 Ed by Rosemarie Luumlhr amp Sabine Ziegler Wiesbaden Reichert 215ndash235

Isebaert Lambert (1992) ldquoSpuren akrostatischer Praumlsensflexion im Lateinischenrdquo In Lateinund Indogermanisch Akten des Kolloqiums der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Salzburg23ndash26 September 1986 Ed by Oswald Panagl amp Thomas Krisch Innsbruck Institut fuumlrSprachwissenschaft 193ndash205

Klingenschmitt Gert (1992) ldquoDie lateinische Nominalflexionrdquo In Latein und IndogermanischAkten des Kolloqiums der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Salzburg 23ndash26 September1986 Ed by Oswald Panagl amp Thomas Krisch Innsbruck Institut fuumlr Sprachwissenschaft89ndash135

mdash (2008) ldquoErbe und Neuerung bei Akzent und Ablaut in der litauischen Morphologierdquo InKalbos istorijos ir dialektologijos problemos 2 Ed by Danguolė Mikulėnienė amp SauliusAmbrazas Vilnius Lietuvių kalbos institutas 180ndash215

Kluge Friedrich amp Elmar Seebold (2002) Etymologisches Woumlrterbuch der deutschen Sprache24th ed Berlin amp New York de Gruyter

Krahe Hans amp Wolfgang Meid (1967ndash1969) Germanische Sprachwissenschaft 7th ed 3 volsBerlin amp New York de Gruyter

Kuumlmmel Martin J (1998) ldquoWurzelpraumlsens neben Wurzelaorist im Indogermanischenrdquo In His-torische Sprachforschung 111 191ndash208

Latte Kurt ed (1966) Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon Vol 2 EndashO Hauniae MunksgaardLejeune Michel (1971a) Lepontica Paris Les Belles Lettresmdash (1971b) ldquoObservations sur les composeacutes privatifsrdquo InMeacutemoires de philologie myceacutenienne

Ed by Michel Lejeune Vol 2 Roma Ateneo 35ndash45Leskien August (1891) ldquoDie Bildung der Nomina im Litauischenrdquo In Abhandlungen der

philologisch-historischen Classe der koumlniglich saumlchsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften12 151ndash618




Litscher Roland (2007) ldquoκρέας kraviacuteḥ and the original nom-acc sg of the IE s-stem neutersrdquo InGreek and Latin froman Indo-Europeanperspective Ed by Coulter H George et al CambridgePhilological Society 107ndash120

Magnuacutesson Aacutesgeir B (1989) Iacuteslensk orethsifjaboacutek Reykjaviacutek Orethaboacutek HaacuteskoacutelansMalzahn Melanie (2004) ldquoToch B yesti nāskoy und der Narten-Charakter der idg Wurzel wes

lsquo(Kleidung) anhabenrsquordquo In Die Sprache 432 212ndash220mdash (2010) The Tocharian Verbal System Leiden amp Boston BrillMartirosyan Hrach K (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon Leiden

amp Boston BrillMastrelli Carlo A (1979) ldquoUna nota su lat rēnēs e gr ῥάχιςrdquo In Incontri linguistici 5 37ndash42Matasović Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic Leiden amp Boston BrillMatzinger Joachim (2005) Untersuchungen zum altarmenischen Nomen Die Flexion des Sub-

stantivs Dettelbach Roumlllmdash (2008) ldquoMultiple suffixes in Indo-European languagesrdquo In The Discourse Potential of Un-

derspecified Structures Ed by Anita Steube Berlin amp New York de Gruyter 21ndash44Mayrhofer Manfred (1986) Indogermanische Grammatik Vol 12 Lautlehre [Segmentale

Phonologie des Indogermanischen] Heidelberg WinterMcCone Kim R (1996) Towards a Relative Chronology of Ancient and Medieval Celtic Sound

Change Maynooth Department of Old IrishMeier-Bruumlgger Michael (2002) Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft 8th ed Berlin amp New York

de GruyterMeillet Antoine (1908) ldquoSur lrsquoaoriste sigmatiquerdquo In Meacutelanges de linguistique offerts agrave M

Ferdinand de Saussure Ed by Honoreacute Champion Paris Socieacuteteacute de Linguistique 79ndash106mdash (1922) ldquoLa forme du geacutenitif pluriel en ombrienrdquo InMeacutemoires de la Socieacuteteacute de Linguistique

de Paris 22 258ndash259Meiser Gerhard (1986) Lautgeschichte der umbrischen Sprache Innsbruck Institut fuumlr Sprach-

wissenschaftmdash (1998) Historische Laut- und Formenlehre der lateinischen Sprache Darmstadt Wis-

senschaftliche BuchgesellschaftMeissner Torsten (2006) S-stem Nouns and Adjectives in Greek and Proto-Indo-European A

Diachronic Study in Word Formation Oxford Oxford University PressNarten Johanna (1968) ldquoZum lsquoproterodynamischenrsquo Wurzelpraumlsensrdquo In Pratidānam Indian

Iranian and Indo-European studies presented to Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper on hissixtieth birthday Ed by Jan C Heesterman Godard H Shokker amp Vadasery I SubramoniamThe Hague Mouton 9ndash19

Nikolaev Alexander S (2008) ldquoGedanken uumlber ein neues Buch (Review of Paul Widmer DasKorn des weiten Feldes)rdquo In Acta Linguistica Petropolitana 41 541ndash570

Nowicki Helmut (1976) ldquoDie neutralen s-Staumlmme im indo-iranischen Zweig des Indogermanis-chenrdquo PhD thesis Universitaumlt Wuumlrzburg

Nussbaum Alan J (1976) ldquoCalandrsquos lsquoLawrsquo and the Caland Systemrdquo PhD thesis Harvard UniversityPress

mdash (1986) Head and Horn in Indo-European Berlin amp New York de GruyterOlsen Birgit A (1999) The Noun in Biblical Armenian Origin and Word-Formation Berlin amp New

York de GruyterOnions Charles T (1966) The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology Oxford Clarendon




Panagl Oswald (1982) ldquoHomerisch ὄχεα ein verkappter lautlicher lsquoMykenismusrsquordquo In SertaIndogermanica Festschrift fuumlr Guumlnter Neumann zum 60 Geburtstag Ed by Johann TischlerInnsbruck Institut fuumlr Sprachwissenschaft der Universitaumlt Innsbruck 251ndash257

Peters Martin (1975) ldquoAltpersisch ašiyavardquo In Die Sprache 21 37ndash42mdash (1977) ldquoReview of Klaus Strunk Lachmanns Regel fuumlr das Lateinischerdquo In Die Sprache 23

67mdash (1980) Untersuchungen zur Vertretung der indogermanischen Laryngale im Griechischen

Wien Akademiemdash (1984) ldquoIndogermanische Chronik 30a ndash VII Altgriechischrdquo In Die Sprache 301 67ndash105mdash (1986) ldquoProbleme mit anlautenden Laryngalenrdquo In Die Sprache 32 365ndash85mdash (1999) ldquoEin tiefes Problemrdquo In Compositiones Indogermanicae in memoriam Jochem

Schindler Ed by Hans Chr Luschuumltzky amp Heiner Eichner Praha Enigma 447ndash456mdash (2002) ldquoIndogermanische Chronik 35rdquo In Die Sprache 393 (Sonderheft) = Chronicalia

Indoeuropaea 39 (1997) 94ndash129Petit Daniel (2010) Untersuchungen zu den baltischen Sprachen Leiden amp Boston BrillPinault Georges-Jean (2000) ldquoLe nom primitif de la reacutetribution rituelle en veacutedique ancienrdquo In

Bulletin drsquoeacutetudes indiennes 17ndash18 427ndash476Pronk Tijmen (2012) ldquoProto-Indo-European long vowels and Balto-Slavic accentuationrdquo In Bal-

tistica 47 205ndash247Prosdocimi Aldo L (1976) ldquoLrsquoiscrizione di Prestinordquo In Studi etruschi 35 199ndash222Ringe Donald A (2006) ldquoA sociolinguistically informed solution to an old problem the Gothic

genitive pluralrdquo In Transactions of the Philological Society 1042 167ndash206Risch Ernst (1974)Wortbildung der homerischen Sprache 2 stark veraumlnderte Auflage Berlin amp

New York de GruyterScarlata Salvatore (1999) Die Wurzelkomposita im Ṛgveda Wiesbaden ReichertSchaffner Stefan (2001) Das Vernersche Gesetz und der innerparadigmatische grammatische

Wechsel des Urgermanischen im Nominalbereich Innsbruck Institut fuumlr Sprachen undLiteraturen

Schindler Jochem (1963) ldquoZu einigen Lehnwoumlrtern im Finnischenrdquo In Die Sprache 9 203ndash206mdash (1972a) ldquoDas Wurzelnomen im Arischen und Griechischenrdquo PhD thesis Universitaumlt

Wuumlrzburgmdash (1972b) ldquoLrsquoapophonie des noms-racines indo-europeacuteensrdquo In Bulletin de la Socieacuteteacute de

Linguistique de Paris 671 31ndash8mdash (1975a) ldquoArmenisch erkn griechisch ὀδύνη irisch idurdquo In Zeitschrift fuumlr vergleichende

Sprachforschung 89 53ndash65mdash (1975b) ldquoLrsquoapophonie des thegravemes indo-europeacuteens en -rnrdquo In Bulletin de la Socieacuteteacute de

Linguistique de Paris 701 1ndash10mdash (1975c) ldquoZum Ablaut der neutralen s-Staumlmme des Indogermanischenrdquo In Flexion und Wort-

bildung Akten der V Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Ed by Helmut RixWiesbaden Reichert 259ndash267

mdash (1994) ldquoAlte und neue Fragen zum indogermanischen Nomenrdquo In In memoriam HolgerPedersen Kolloquium der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 26 bis 28 Maumlrz 1993 inKopenhagen Ed by Jens E Rasmussen Wiesbaden Reichert 397ndash400

Schmidt Johannes (1889) Die Pluralbildungen der indogermanischen Neutra Weimar BoumlhlauSchrijver Peter (1991) The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Latin Amsterdam

amp Atlanta Rodopimdash (1995) Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology Amsterdam amp Atlanta Rodopi




Schumacher Stefan (2000) The Historical Morphology of the Welsh Verbal Noun MaynoothDept of Old Irish

mdash (2004) Die keltischen Primaumlrverben Ein vergleichendes etymologisches und morphologis-ches Lexikon Unter Mitarbeit von Britta Schulze-Thulin und Caroline aan de Wiel InnsbruckInstitut fuumlr Sprachen und Literaturen

Schwyzer Eduard (1939)GriechischeGrammatik Vol 1Allgemeiner Teil Lautlehre ndashWortbildungndash Flexion Muumlnchen Beck

Seebold Elmar (1970) Vergleichendes und etymologischesWoumlrterbuch der germanischen starkenVerben The Hague Mouton

Sommer Ferdinand (1914) Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehre 2 amp 3 HeidelbergWinter

Stang Christian S (1966) Vergleichende Grammatik der baltischen Sprachen Oslo Bergen ampTromsoslash Universitetsforlaget

Stifter David (1997) ldquoCeltiberian -unei Lugueirdquo In Die Sprache 392 213ndash223mdash (2006) Sengoiacutedelc Old Irish for Beginners Syracuse NY University PressStokes Whitley (1887) ldquoIrish feminine stems in icirc and u and neuter stems in srdquo In Zeitschrift fuumlr

vergleichende Sprachforschung 28 289ndash294Strunk Klaus (1985) ldquoFlexionskategorien mit akrostatischem Ablaut und die sigmatischen

Aoristerdquo In Grammatische Kategorien Funktion und Geschichte Akten der VII Fachta-gung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Berlin 20ndash25 Februar 1983 Ed by BernfriedSchlerath Wiesbaden Reichert 490ndash515

Stuumlber Karin (2000) ldquoZur Herkunft der altindischen Infinitive auf -saacutenirdquo InMuumlnchener Studienzur Sprachwissenschaft 60 135ndash167

mdash (2002) Die primaumlren s-Staumlmme des Indogermanischen Wiesbaden Reichertmdash (2007) ldquoReview of Torsten Meissner S-stem Nouns and Adjectives in Greek and Proto-Indo-

European A Diachronic Study in Word Formationrdquo In Kratylos 52 38ndash42Thurneysen Rudolf (1887) ldquoIV Irisch siacutedrdquo In Zeitschrift fuumlr vergleichende Sprachforschung 28

153ndash154Tremblay Xavier (2005) ldquoZum Narten-Aoristrdquo Apophonica IV In Indogermanica Festschrift Gert

Klingenschmitt Indische iranische und indogermanische Studien dem verehrten Jubilardargebracht zu seinem fuumlnfundsechzigsten Geburtstag Ed by Guumlnter Schweiger TaimeringVTW 637ndash64

mdash (2010) ldquoJenseits von Schindler Die Bedeutung der drei Wurzelnomina-Ablauttypenrdquo InMuumlnchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 64 181ndash221

Uhlich Juumlrgen (1999) ldquoZur sprachlichen Einordnung des Lepontischenrdquo In Akten des ZweitenDeutschen Keltologen-Symposiums (Bonn 2ndash4 April 1997) Ed by Stefan Zimmer RolfKoumldderitzsch amp Arndt Wigger Tuumlbingen Niemeyer 277ndash304

Untermann Juumlrgen (1992) ldquoWurzelnomina im Lateinischenrdquo In Latein und IndogermanischAkten des Kolloqiums der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft Salzburg 23ndash26 September1986 Ed by Oswald Panagl amp Thomas Krisch Innsbruck Institut fuumlr Sprachwissenschaft137ndash153

mdash (2000)Woumlrterbuch des Oskisch-Umbrischen Heidelberg WinterDe Vaan Michiel A C (2003) The Avestan Vowels Amsterdam amp New York Rodopimdash (2004) ldquolsquoNartenrsquo roots from the Avestan point of viewrdquo In Per aspera ad asteriscos Studia

Indogermanica in honorem Jens Elmegaringrd Rasmussen sexagenarii Idibus Martiis anno MMIVEd by Adam Hyllested Anders R Joslashrgensen amp Jenny H Larsson Innsbruck Institut fuumlrSprachen und Literaturen 591ndash599




mdash (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages Leiden amp BostonBrill

mdash (2005) ldquoReview of Karin Stuumlber Die primaumlren s-Staumlmme des Indogermanischenrdquo In Kraty-los 50 60ndash65

Villanueva Svensson Miguel (2011) ldquoIndo-European long vowels in Balto-Slavicrdquo In Baltistica461 5ndash38

Vine Brent (1998) ldquoThe etymology of Greek κώμη and related problemsrdquo InMiacuter Curad Studiesin honor of Calvert Watkins Ed by Jay H Jasanoff H Craig Melchert amp Lisi Oliver InnsbruckInstitut fuumlr Sprachwissenschaft 685ndash702

De Vries Jan (1961) Altnordisches Etymologisches Woumlrterbuch Leiden BrillWagner Heinrich (1969) ldquoThe origin of the Celts in the light of linguistic geographyrdquo In Transac-

tions of the Philological Society 68 203ndash250Walde Anton amp Johann B Hofmann (1938ndash1956) Lateinisches Etymologisches Woumlrterbuch 2 vols

Heidelberg WinterWeiss Michael L (1993) ldquoStudies in Italic Nominal Morphologyrdquo PhD thesis Ithaca Cornell

University Pressmdash (2009a) Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin Ann Arbor Beech

Stavemdash (2009b) ldquoUmbrian erusrdquo In East and West Papers in Indo-European Studies Ed by

Kazuhiko Yoshida amp Brent Vine Bremen Hempen 241ndash264mdash (2010) Language and Ritual in Sabellic Italy The Ritual Complex of the Third and the Fourth

Tabulae Iguvinae Leiden amp Boston BrillWidmer Paul (2004)DasKorn desweiten Feldes InterneDerivation Derivationskette und Flexions-

klassenhierarchie Aspekte der nominalen Wortbildung im Urindogermanischen InnsbruckInstitut fuumlr Sprachen und Literaturen

mdash (2013) ldquoAkzent und Ablaut externe und interne Derivation in der Nominalkompositionrdquo InIndo-European Accent and Ablaut Ed by Goumltz Keydana Paul Widmer amp Thomas OlanderKopenhagen Museum Tusculanum 187ndash195

Winter Werner (1978) ldquoThe distribution of short and long vowels in stems of the type Lithsti vegravesti megravesti and OCS jasti vesti mesti in Baltic and Slavic languagesrdquo In RecentDevelopments in Historical Phonology Ed by Jacek Fisiak The Hague Mouton 431ndash446






vhas lsquoconveyingrsquo Gk γῆρας lsquoold agersquo ( γέρας lsquogift of honourrsquo) Gk ἦϑος lsquocustomhabitrsquo ( ἔϑος lsquoidrsquo) Gk μήδεα and μέδεα pl lsquomale genitalsrsquo Gk ῥῆγος (also ῥέγος)lsquorug blanketrsquo and OIr siacuted (sḗdos) lsquofairy moundrsquo3

These root vowel alternations can in principle be explained as a result ofa paradigmatic split The long vowel forms are believed to be the continuants ofthe strong stemwhile thewords reflecting a short vowel would then continue theroot ablaut of the oblique stem In terms of heuristics this scenario is parallel tothe root vowel alternation ĕ oslash that we find in a pair like Ved vaacuteras- lsquowidthrsquo Veduacuteras- lsquobreastrsquo whose existence can be explained via a paradigmatic split of theunderlying proterokinetic s-stem (h₁)ueacuterH-os (h₁)urH-eacutes-4

In the following years some of these ldquoacrostaticrdquo s-stems have been moreplausibly explained through various phonological or morphological develop-ments andor different etymologies (cf Houmlfler 2012 for an exhaustive overview)However Schindlerrsquos mere mentioning the possibility of their existence has con-sequently led to a broad acceptance of this type of neuter s-stems among manyscholars to this day5

One canhowever raise several objections against ldquoacrostaticrdquoneuter s-stemsor at least against the notion of ldquoacrostaticrdquo6 used for the group of s-stems thatseemingly reflect an ē e root ablaut First andmaybe worst of all is the basis onwhich this assumption was arrived at namely themere vowel alternation7 ē e Itis true that this vowel alternation is crucial to the identification of words that wecategorize as acrostatic nouns of the type B Additionally however these wordsusually reflect the expected zero grade of the suffix as in ḗku-r eacuteku-n-s lsquoliverrsquowhere the root ablaut as well as zero-grade suffix -r in the nom-acc sg are

3 Examples cited after Schindler 1975c 2674 Cf Nowicki 1976 27 Stuumlber 2002 1865 Cf for example more or less unanimously Schaffner 2001 77f and 587 Stuumlber 2002 22 andpassim Widmer 2004 50 Casaretto 2004 553f Hartmann 2012 796 It is unwise and misleading to use the term ldquoacrostaticrdquo not only for the accent-ablaut classesacrostatic A (viz R(oacute)-S(oslash) R(eacute)-S(oslash)-) and acrostatic B (viz R(ḗ)-S(oslash) R(eacute)-S(oslash)-) of the standardmodel (for this cf Eichner 1973 91 note 33 Schindler 1975c 262ndash4 and also Meier-Bruumlgger 2002203ff for a historical overview as well as Widmer 2004 49ff) but also for nouns with a columnalaccent on the root syllable as a result of secondary remodeling e g the s-stems following thestandard paradigm (as done by Hartmann 2012 52 et passim)7 It would in turn be bold to assume the existence of s-stems of the acrostatic type A that iswith the root ablaut o e only because of the root vowel alternation of pairs like Gk ὄχος lsquochariotrsquoand the Hesychius gloss ἔχεσφι ἅρμασιν (dat pl) where the o-vocalism of the former is bestexplained through analogy after a thematic noun of the same meaning ὄχος m (e g hCer 19) orὄχᾱ f (Myc wo-ka cf Panagl 1982 154ndash6) For similar analogical processes within Latin see alsobelow note 28



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Documents

StefanHöfler Notesonthree“acrostatic”neuter stems...298 StefanHöfler Itmay,however,benotedthatsomeofthealleged“Narten”rootsshowavery basicrootstructure*√CeC.Theremighthavebeenatendencytoavoidzerogrades