Untitled - Caio - Index of

58 Introduction"Latein - wie wurde es ausgesprochen?" in Beitrage zur miindlichen Kulturder Romer, edited by G. Vogt-Spira. Tiibingen 1993. p. 14).4) Alone the hypothesis of the derivation from a common preliminary phaseof the language groups in question is a suitable explanation of the numerousequivalences in the areas of phonetics, construction, and semantics. In otherwords: Vedic as-i-i, Greek eO"-'-1 and Latin es-t are related to one anotherand are based upon the reconstructible common preliminary PIE *h,esti (seeabove, E 505). This language was spoken by the Proto-Indo-European linguisticcommunity. No system of writing was known to this community.From the Proto-Indo-European form * h,esti follow individual routes througha continuum of tradition and generations of speakers to Latin, to Greek, and toVedic forms:Proto-Indo-European *h,estiVedic asti Greek eO"n Latin est5) For the sake of simplicity in representation no tree tables are used, butrather a correspondence set is used in its place as an abbreviation: PIE * h ,esti= Vedic as-t-i = Greek eO"-'-1 = Latin es-t. One must not misunderstand anddraw the conclusion that the Vedic asti comes from the Greek ecrn, or thatthe Latin est comes from Greek.E 508. Since the time of Bopp (see above, E 302), Indo-European linguisticshas been a methodically established and functional science. Itsprimary method is the internal and external comparison within, and amongthe Indo-European languages, as well as the constant review of the relationof the Indo-European languages to the original language and viceversa.I) The specialized knowledge in all questions of Indo-European 1inguisticsand in the reconstruction of assertions about the original language gainedthrough comparison has in the meantime become very comprehensive andcomes from the work of generations of Indo-European linguists. Owing to thedialogue in the international community of researchers, this specialized knowledgeis subjected to an ongoing process of review. New finds and new ideascontinually show that we are on the correct path with our specialized knowledge.Time and time again, new pieces, some larger, some smaller, can beThe Reconstruction of Pro to-in do-European 59added to the puzzle of Indo-European 1inguistics. It attests to the accuracy ofour progress when a form that had been unclear on the hasis of earlier researchsuddenly is understood without problem.A small example from my research: The Epic Homeric verb formea81j (in aO"1tt ea81j Iliad N 543 and ::: 419) has been unclear sinceantiquity and has given occasion to untenable speculations (-7 ChantraineDELG sub voce: "rien de clair"). In another context entirely, I asked myselfone day, what the Greek equivalent of German singen is. Known tome from textbooks was the associated nominative active-voiceOJ.Li] (Epic-Poetic Greek since Homer) '(divine) voice' « *songwhti).The underlying verb is believed to be lost. (-7 Frisk GEW s. v.: "das zugrundeliegende primare Verb ist nur im Germanischen erhalten"). Anidea struck me: as an aorist, ea811 belongs to this lost verb « *e-s(lgwh_).The meaning (the word occurs in two battle scenes) fits remarkably well:"(upon him) sounded the shield." For the verbal form in question, thismeans that it was translated from the Homeric singers in the correct context,but was very early no longer understood. On the details of the explanation,see below, L 345 § l.2) Thanks to the numerous comparisons of equivalent forms we are thebest and most accurately informed in the problems of phonetics. Thus, theform of the Indo-European root * snejgwh_ is for certain correctly determined,see above E 50 I. However, while the determination of its meaning as 'tosnow' is rather certain, the question of how this relates to the Vedic meaning'to be sticky' cannot be answered with certainty. The degree of certainty ofassertions varies in semantics just as it does in morphology and still more insyntax, see below S 101. Each case must be checked individually. For example,PIE *h,es- (see above E 505), of which the reconstructed 3 sg. *h,esti isquite probably the form of the original language, whereas in the I pI. *h,s-metheexact form of the present ending cannot be ascertained.E 509. The reality of the linguistic continuity of traditions from the postulatedProto-Indo-European original language to the known individualIndo-European languages of historical times cannot be doubted. To whatextent linguistic relation implies familial clan and a common genetic originof the dispersing groups of speakers remains to be discovered. Concerningnecessary information as to the location, time and culture of this originallanguage, as well as ideas on the 'how' of the genesis of the individuallanguages, see below E 511 ff.