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Germanic Evidence for a Neglected Indo-European Root

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Albert L. Lloyd
Albert L. Lloyd
Affiliation:
University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
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Abstract

An IE root *bhel(ə)- ‘strike, hit, hew, chop’, although not included in the standard IE etymological dictionaries, is shown to underly a number of etymologically obscure Germanic words, such as OHG bolz(o) ‘bolt’, Go. bliggwan ‘to beat’, OIcel. bella ‘to hit’, blak ‘slap, blow’, OHG blast ‘a throwing to the ground’, OHG bloh, bloc ‘block of wood’, and possibly OHG balko ‘beam’. Since related words can be found in Italic, Celtic, Baltic, and perhaps also Slavic and Greek, there would seem to be sufficient justification for the addition of this root to the inventory of recognized IE roots.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , January 1989 , pp. 53 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 1989

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