Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/n̥bʰrós

This Proto-Indo-European entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Indo-European edit

Etymology edit

From *nebʰ- (to become damp, cloudy) +‎ *-rós.

Noun edit

*n̥bʰrós or *n̥bʰrís m[1]

  1. rain-cloud, with semantic narrowing to rain, cloud

Reconstruction notes edit

PIE *n̥bʰrós/*n̥bʰrís "rain-cloud, rain, cloud" is probably a zero-grade derivative of *nebʰ-, the root that also gave *nébʰos. However, that derivative remains a bit problematic because beside clearly matching Sanskrit, Avestan, Latin and Armenian cognates there are formal problems with Ancient Greek ὄμβρος (ómbros) with problematic initial ο- and the cluster -μβ- (proper Greek reflex after the expected assimilation of *n to *m to the following labial would be -μφ-), as well as with ἀφρός (aphrós, foam), which does formally provide a perfect match, but is usually dropped from consideration due to heavy semantical mismatch (cf. Beekes, Frisk 1960:197 etc.).[2][3]

Descendants edit

References edit

  1. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S., Irslinger, Britta, Schneider, Carolin (2008) “*nebʰ-”, in Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon [Nouns in the Indo-European Lexicon] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, pages 499-504
  2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὄμβρος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1075
  3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἀφρός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 179
  4. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “imber”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 299
  5. ^ Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “iprer (~ ipprer ~ eprer)”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 70