Árbók Háskóla Íslands - 02.01.1954, Síða 16

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movement with the sound-combination of the type ger- and
gel-, as I have shown in my essay on the origin of the sounds
r and 1 (see “Gestural Origin of Language”, pp. 100—229).
As already pointed out, not the initial sound in such combina-
tions is of great importance but the final sound, and where
we have such combinations as lab. + vowel + n (+ g) or dental
+ vowel + n(+g) or 1 + vowel+n or (s)l+vowel+n we must
assume that in such cases the initial sounds are to be regarded
as substitutes for the normal velar-sounds, as by far the most
of these combinations contain an initial velar (k, q, g, etc.).
We now examine first the roots with final palatal n with
the meaning to strike, press, smash, push, thrust:
(A) : IE. 1. qen- “to thrust, to press, to pinch”: Old-Ind.
kanda-m. “knoll, lump” (prolongations in qneg-, qnek-, qnes-,
qneu-g-, qneu-t-, qneu-d-, qneup-, qneu-b-, see WP. I, 390).
Related to this root must originally have been:
2. qen- “to scrape, rub”: Gr. y.óvig “dust” (as set-base gené-
in Gr. xvr|ðo) “scrape, rub, itch”: prolongations qenéd-, qené-p-,
qené-bh-, qene-s-, qenei-, qeneid-, qni-p-, qeneu-, qneu-d- (dh-,
t-) etc., see WP. I, 392—397).
ken-t- “to stab”: Gr. xevtéío.
qþen- “to kill, to hurt”: Old-Ind. ksanóti “wounds, hurts”.
gen- as base for prolongations with the designation “to press,
squeeze” etc.: gn-egh-, gn-et-, gn-ebh-, gn-es-, gn-er-, gn-ei-
bh-, gn-ei-g-, gn-eu-, g(e)n-eu-g-, gn-eut-, gn-eu-bh-, gn-eu-s-,
see WP. I, 580—583.
2. guhen- “to strike”: Old-Ind. hán-ti “strikes, kills”.
3. dhen- “to strike, push, thrust”: Icel. det-ta (#den-tan) “to
fall, thrust against”.
bhen- “to kill, wound”: Gothic banja “a wound”.
bhe(n)g-, bheg- “to strike”: Old-Ind. bhan-ákti “breaks”.
2. men- “to press together, to squeeze”: Russ. mnu, mjatb
“breaks, smashes”.
men-th- “to chew”: Lat. mando.
men-q- “to smash, to squeeze”: Old-Ind. mác-até “smashes”.
(s)qén-, (s)qan- “to push, bite”: Old-Irish fo-seann “to push,
strike”, Arm. kasum “thrash” (see WP. II, 564).
sten-g- “to stab”?: Gothic stigqan, Cymr. sangu (WP. II, 627).
(B) We now proceed to the IE. roots which designate: curved,