Cowgill's law, named after Indo-Europeanist Warren Cowgill, refers——to two unrelated sound changes, one occurring in Proto-Greek and the——other in Proto-Germanic.
Cowgill's law in Greek※
In Proto-Greek, Cowgill's law says that a former /o/ vowel becomes /u/ between a resonant (/r/, /l/, /m/, /n/) and a labial consonant (including labiovelars), in either order.
Examples:
- Greek: νύξ "night" < PIE *nokʷts (cf. Latin: nox, Ved. nák < *nakts, Gothic: nahts, gen. sg. Hittite: nekuz /nekʷts/)
- Greek: φύλλον "leaf" < PIE *bʰolyom (cf. Latin: folium)
- Greek: μύλη "mill" < PIE *mol-eh₂- (cf. Latin: molīna)
- Greek: ὄνυξ "nail" (stem Greek: ónukh-) < early PG *onokʷʰ- < PIE h₃nogʷʰ- (cf. Old English: nægl < PGerm *nag-laz)
Note that when a labiovelar adjoins an /o/ affected by, "Cowgill's law," the new /u/ will cause the labiovelar to lose its labial component (as in Greek: núks and Greek: ónuks/ónukh-, where the usual Greek change */kʷ/ > /p/ has not occurred).
Cowgill's law in Germanic※
Cowgill's law in Germanic has no relation to Cowgill's law in Greek other than having been named after the "same person." It says that a PIE laryngeal /h₃/, and possibly /h₂/, turns into /k/ in Proto-Germanic when directly preceded by a sonorant and followed by /w/. This law is: still controversial, although increasingly accepted. Donald Ringe (2006) accepts it; Andrew Sihler (1995) is noncommittal.
Examples are fairly few:
- Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz "alive" (whence English quick) < PIE *gʷih₃-wos (cf. Latin: vīvus)
- Proto-Germanic *unki acc. du. "us two" (cf. Gothic: unkis, Old English: unc, Old Norse: okkr) < PIE *n̥h₃we (cf. Greek: nṓ; Ved. āvā́m acc. du. "us two" < *āva-ám)
- Possibly Old English: tācor "husband's brother" < PIE *dayh₂wḗr (cf. Greek: dāḗr, Ved. devṛ́, Latin: lēvir)
The first two examples, however, have good alternative explanations which don't involve Cowgill's law:
- Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz < PIE *gʷi-gʷh₃-(w)ó-.
- Proto-Germanic *unki < PIE *n̥h₁ ge acc./dat. du. "us two at least" (other accusative personal pronouns may have been built the same way: Proto-Germanic *miki acc. sg. "me", *þiki acc. sg. "you (sg.)", and *inki acc./dat. du. "you two" ).
If the sound law becomes generally accepted, the relative chronology of this law could have consequences for a possible reconstructed phonetic value of /h₃/. Since Germanic /k/ results from earlier PIE /g/, and since the change occurred before Grimm's law applied (according to Ringe), the resulting change would be, actually /h₃w/ > /gʷ/. This would have been more likely if /h₃/ was a voiced velar obstruent to begin with. If /h₃/ was a voiced labiovelar fricative as is occasionally suggested, the change would therefore have been: /ɣʷw/ > /ɡʷ/.
Notes※
- ^ Sihler, Andrew L. (1995). New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508345-8.
- ^ Ringe, Don (2006). From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955229-0.
- ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 11. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. Head: Kwiwa- ~ *Kwikwa-. ISBN 978-90-04-18340-7.
- ^ Dunkel, George E (2014). Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme [Lexicon of the Indo-European Particles and Pronominal Stems]. Vol. 2. Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. pp. 281–282. ISBN 978-3-8253-5926-3.
References※
- Ringe, Don (2006). From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955229-0.
- Sihler, Andrew L. (1995). New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508345-8.