Classical Armenian ji, arcat’i, and botanical -i
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[1] Harvard University
Harvard University
City of Cambridge, Estados Unidos
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- Localización: Historische Sprachforschung = Historical linguistics, ISSN 0935-3518, Nº. 134, 2021, págs. 3-8
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
The present paper argues that Classical Armenian ji ‘horse’, long recognized as a cognate to Sanskrit háya- ‘idem.’, is regularly derived from the stem *ĝhei̯o- through a proposed sound change *-ei̯V- > *-ii̯V-. This same sound change allows us to account for the problematic diphthong in keay ‘he lives’ < *gʷei̯h₃-ti. We also discuss the case of Classical Armenian arcat’i ‘of silver’, which offers further evidence for *-ei̯V- > *-ii̯Vdue to its apparent use as a Stoffadjektiv. We argue that it should be considered a formal match to Latin argenteus ‘idem.’ and Classical Greek arguréos ‘idem.’, all being derived from PIE *h₂gtom with the suffix *-ei̯os that expresses material of origin. We then propose that the same PIE suffix lies behind botanical -i, widely attested in names of trees. The forms that it derives would have undergone a shift from an adjectival meaning ‘made from X wood’ to a nominal meaning ‘X tree’.
