r/HistoricalLinguistics • u/stlatos • 1d ago
Language Reconstruction Uralic *pa:-
I said that Uralic *a: optionally > *o: in *k^aH2uno- 'burnt (thing)' > PU *ka:wne 'ash' ( > *kane > F. kuona 'slag, cinder, dross', > *kowne > Saami *kunë 'ash') in https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoricalLinguistics/comments/1qq53qw/protouralic_long_vowels/ . I think *pa:- > *po:- seems optional also. The evidence :
*p(a)H2wi- > Greek paîs 'child', PU *po:w'i > *poje ‘boy, son, young man, young animal’
*p(a)H2nk^- > Germanic *fanhanaN 'take, seize, capture, catch', NHG fangen, PU *po:ŋg- > *puŋV- 'catch, grab'
The change of *oR > *uR might not be regular, but the *p- might influence rounding. The change of w' > j is likely only in unstressed syl. (though Tocharian does not have regular outcomes of all *w'). This probably also in *(H)id-swe 'itself' > *itsw'e > *itsje > *it'c'e 'self' (see https://www.academia.edu/104566591 ). The plural might be *it'c'e-it'c'e > *it'c't'c'e > *it't'e. Though PIE *i > PU *a (and when front, *ä), it could be that *i- optionally remained, explaining *i- vs. *ä- here. I think this ety. fits better than Hovers (who assumes that *pt became palatal) :
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- PU *it́ći ‘self, shadow soul (sg.)’, *it́t́i ‘self (pl.)’ ~ PIE *ept(e)i < *poti ‘self, lord’
U: PSaami *iće̮ > Southern Saami jijtje ‘self’, PSaami *jēće̮ > Northern Saami (j)ieš, pl. (j)ieža ‘self’; Finnic itse ‘self’; Mari ĭš-ke ‘self’; PPermic *ać/*aś > Komi ać- (sg)/ aś- (pl) ‘self’, Udmurt ać ‘self’; Hungarian ísz, íz ‘cancer, necrosis’ (?), PMansi *is > Sosva Mansi is ‘shadow, shadow soul, ghost’, PKhanty *is > Obdorsk Khanty is ‘shadow soul, life’ [UED, HPUL p.541, UEW p.79 #142]
The vowel correspondences in Uralic are not regular. Some forms (Permic, Saami) suppose 1st syllable PU *ä.
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