Árbók Háskóla Íslands - 02.01.1954, Síða 65

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IE. an-s-á “bow” corresponds to Turkish en-s-e “back of
the head”, Polynesian ana “cave” and Chinese ’ien “a curved
or angular piece of a wall”.
IE. qan-tho “bending, corner” corresponds to Hebrew kn-°
“to bow down”, Turkish kan-at “wing, cover”, Polynesian koni
“crooked”, Greenlandic qan-erpá “cover” and Chinese k’ian
“turn round”.
IE. pan-dos “curved” corresponds to Hebrew pn-n1 “comer”,
Polynesian pona “a knot” (comp. also IE. mono “nape of the
neck”, o: the curved, and Polynesian mona “a knot of a tree”)
and Chinese pian “all round” (mian “wrap round, cover”).
IE. sten- “make narrow” corresponds to Hebrew tn-’ “basket”,
Polynesian tene-tene “the uvula” (round), Greenlandic tinuvoq
“swells” and Chinese tán “basket” etc.
To stretch.
We have assumed that IE. ten- “to stretch” might have come
into existence as imitation of stretching by moving the front
of the tongue backwards to the velar position of n. This is
confirmed in other languages:
Polynesian Greenlandic
tene “to press with tán-eq “extent”
urgent solicitation”
Chinese
dian “extend”
t’ian “long”
d’án “wide”
dién “pull, draw,
stretch”
d’ién “rope by which
cattle are led”
s’ién “stretch,
extend”
tiang “give tension to
a bow”