Indo-European Roots Reconsidered 93: *daH2- 'wet'

Indo-European Roots Reconsidered 93: *daH2- 'wet'

Inspired by considering https://www.academia.edu/164591261 by Sebastian Kempgen, "etymologies of the Pontic rivers Don, Donec, Dnjepr, and Dnjestr. While it is clear that they all contain the ie. root danu ‘river’", I decided to examine some problems in these & other cognates.

PIE *daH2nu- > S. dā́nu- 'water', +dānu- 'sprinkling', Av. Dānav-, etc., *dāṇu- > Degano ḍán 'pond, lake' (also nuristan.info/lngFrameL.html Katavari "ḍanʹoala 'rapids in water'" )

Ir. *zgrsna-daHnu- 'round/loop-water' > Yidgha >> Kh. ǧerdānu \ ǧernánu 'loop in river', Kalasha gerdhán, [cont. *a:p] NP girdâb ‘whirlpool’

PIE *daH2mu- > Ar. tam(u)k 'moist, damp', also (?) Gaulish Damona 'consort of Apollo Borvo (hotsprings god)

A. PIE *daH2nu- in IIr., irregularities

The -dh- in Kalasha gerdhán implies that Ir. *H still existed at the time of borrowing, with other *H causing aspiration in Dardic ( https://www.academia.edu/127220417 ) :

*Hravo- \ *raHvo- > L. ravus \ rāvus, S. rāva-s ‘cry/shriek/roar/yell / any noise’, *Hraw > A. rhoó ‘song’

*Hrew- 'to tear out' -> Sanskrit róman- \ loman- nu. 'body hair; wool, down' -> *Hlōmaka- 'fox' -> fem. *-ī > Achareta luuméei, Palula lhooméi

*maH2is- 'sheep' > *mH2ais-, etc.; meḍha- > *mheḍa- > bheḍa-, etc.

*meHmso- > S. māṃsá-m ‘flesh’, mh- in *mHamsa- > Achareta mhãã́s ‘meat / flesh’

*melH2- 'crush, kill', *merH- \ *mHer- > *mHoreye- > S. māráyati , Achareta mhaar-, Kh. mari- ‘kill’ (*merH seen in Armenian *merr- > meṙanim ‘die’ with *rx > *rR > *rr > ṙ like *derH2- > G. dérō ‘flay/skin’, Ar. teṙem, *drH2- > taṙatok ‘cloak’; sim. to *dhoH3ro- > S. dhārā- ‘blade/edge’, Gmc. *daHr- > *daRr- > ON darr ‘spear’

IIr. *dāṇu- as a variant recalls S. śāna-s \ śāṇa-s, etc., with *-Hn- having an optional effect (based on Note 7 https://www.academia.edu/127709618 ) :

Both *H & *r can become uvular *R, often by dsm. or asm. Since *r could cause T > retro. even at a distance, the same for *H (optionally) could imply *H > *R :

*puH(1?)-ne- > *puneH- > S. punā́ti ‘purify / clean’; *puH-nyo- > *pHunyo- > púṇya- ‘pure/holy/ good’

*k^oH3no-s > G. kônos ‘(pine-)cone’, S. śāna-s \ śāṇa-s ‘whetstone’ (with opt. retroflexion after *H = x)

*waH2n-? > S. vaṇ- ‘sound’, vāṇá-s ‘sound/music’, vā́ṇī- ‘voice’, NP bâng ‘voice, sound, noise, cry’ (if related to *(s)waH2gh-, L. vāgīre ‘cry [of newborns]’, Li. vógrauti ‘babble’, S. vagnú- ‘a cry/ call/sound’)

*nmt(o)-H2ango- > S. natāṅga- ‘bending the limbs / stooping/bowed’, Mth. naḍaga ‘aged/infirm’ Mth. naḍagī ‘shin’, *nemt-H2agno- > *navḍān > Kt. nâvḍán ‘shin’, *-ika- > *nüṛänk > Ni. nüṛek

*(s)poH3imo- > Gmc. *faimaz > E. foam, L. spūma

*(s)poH3ino- > Li. spáinė, S. phéna-s \ pheṇa-s \ phaṇá-s

*(s)powino- > *fowino > W. ewyn, OI *owuno > úan ‘froth/foam/scum’

*k^aH2w-ye > G. kaíō ‘burn’, *k^aH2u-mn- > G. kaûma ‘burning heat’, *k^aH2uni-s > TB kauṃ ‘sun / day’, *k^aH2uno- > *k^H2auno- > S. śóṇa- ‘red / crimson’, *kH2anwo- > Káṇva-s ‘son of Ghora, saved from underworld by Ashvins, his freedom from blindness in its dark resembles other IE myths of release of the sun’ (Norelius 2017)

B. PIE *daH2nu- and descendants in IE names, 'river'

In the names of rivers, PIE *daH2nu- seems to sometimes become *danu-, etc. This could show 0-grade PIE *dH2nu- (which might also > Balto-Slavic *dunu-), but I think most are from IE *daH2nw- > *danH2w-. In part this would "fix" a complex cluster, but H-met. seems common anywhere ( https://www.academia.edu/127283240 ). This would also explain the personified river becoming *danH2w-aH2- > *danawā > Greek Δανάη \ Danáē, the mother of Perseus. The Linear B word da-nwa might show original *daH2nu- -> *da:nwa: or imply a special use of signs ( https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoricalLinguistics/comments/1qsofig/greek_danáē_linear_b_danwa/ ).

Alexis Manaster Ramer said that *daH2nu- -> G. Tánaïs \ Τάναϊς was Scythian, implying regular *d > t, etc. However, in related (?) Ossetic, some *d > t near *H2 by H-met. (based on https://www.academia.edu/127283240 ) :

*daH2iwer- ‘husband’s brother’ > S. devár-, Ir. *dHaivar- > *θaivar- > Os. tew, Yg. sewir

It seems highly unlikely that 2 words beginning with *daH2- would both show t- in Scythian & Os. by chance, implying that the C's were essentially Iranian with som environmental changes. I think Ir. had optional *daH2nu- > *dH2anu- > Scythian *tanu- 'river', with a derived adj. *tanawya- becoming *tanavi- > Tánaïs (by a process seen in *xšay- / *xša:- ‘rule’ (Middle Persian pādi-xšāy ‘rule(r)’), *xšaya- 'ruler' > G. -xaïs in the names of the legendary Scythian founding brothers).

With a good explanation available, I prefer Scythian origin to, say, Maeotian. If Temarunda was Maeotian & meant 'black water/sea', then no *d > **t. If *temH2sro- > temar-, then *s > 0 might also be seen in *matsyo- > *-sy- > *-y-, if *may-eu- 'to fish' -> 'fishermen' > Μαιῶται \ Maiōtai (who lived near water & had a diet partly of fish). These are all speculative.

The change of stems in -u- \ -av- -> *-avya- might be to avoid a merger with apparent *-va- -> -av-. I see *haxi- 'friend' > *hxi-thva- 'friendship' -> *hxi-thav- 'friend', Av. hiθāu-š 'friend?'. I think it is possible that Ir. *s > *x > h, *sw > *xw, so a stage, say, *xaχi- -> *xχi- > *xi- > *hi- would allow a meaningful change. In https://www.academia.edu/117755611 by Martin Schwartz & Alexis Manaster Ramer :

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The name Ἰδάνθυρσος (Idánthursos ) goes well with the ethnonym Ἀγάθυρσοι (Agáthursoi ), dwellers on the borders of Scythia (Herodotus 4:119, 125). The two are analyzable in parallel, from respectively OIran. * hiθām-θr(a)uš(a)- ‘prospering the ally’3 (AMR,4 MS) and * haxā-θr(a)uš(a)- ‘prospering the friend/socius’ (MS).

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I do not think the acc. is needed here, only *w-w > *m-w. The details depend on the 2nd part, so anything containing *w (or *u ?) would work.