Catalan abaltir ‘to put to sleep’ has been derived by Brüch1 from the assumed t-preterit of Gallic *adbalo ‘to perish’; but Meyer-Lübke2 regards this etymology as improbable inasmuch as we do not know that Gallic had a t-preterit. Spitzer3 has suggested the derivation of abaltir from *expavitare ‘to scare’, a notion which Meyer-Lübke pronounces phonetically and semantically unacceptable.

In SP and LV the Sanskrit gerund endings tvā and ya are used virtually as in Sanskrit. In addition several Prakritic endings are used. Their application is radically different in two ways: (1) No distinction is made between simple and compound bases. (2) The endings are attached not to the ‘root’ as ordinarily in Skt., but to a thematic present stem (often one which is itself Prakritic and unknown to Sanskrit). This thematic present stem, incidentally, shows a tendency to make itself the base for the whole verb conjugation.

An examination of the verbal forms derived from Indo-European roots with the gradations ei/i and eu/u (and sometimes ai/i) and ending in stops will show many thematic present stems with the strong grade of the radical vowel and not a few others characterized by a nasal infix in the root. The nasal type is well represented in Latin and Lithuanian, and also in some of the Sanskrit verbs belonging to that class called by the Indian grammarians the sixth (e.g., muñcάti, limpάti). The seventh Skt. class is not with any certainty represented outside of the Aryan group, and its relation to the thematic type is disputed, but it is made principally from roots of the phonetic pattern described, and must receive due consideration. The Greek forms of the type λιμπάvω will be discussed later.

The words klaohizis (or klaohi) veinas (or venas) den θavan occur in two inscriptions, namely 371 and 436 b, in what seems to be an opening formula; while 474 opens with a partial version of the same, the reading of which is doubtful and will be considered later in some detail. Unfortunately, all three inscriptions in which this formula occurs have been lost or destroyed, so that it is attested only in transcription. But since these transcriptions are the work of different copyists, and since the three words of the formula have been preserved in several independent sources, it seems to me, as to others, that they may be regarded as trustworthy authorities. The authenticity of these inscriptions has often been impugned, but at the date at which the transcriptions were made, knowledge of Messapic was hardly sufficiently advanced for them to have been forged—they are far too convincing as Messapic.

[1. Ir. āsaim (NIr. fāsaim) ‘grow’ : Goth, wahsjan, etc. 2. W blin ‘tired’ < IE *mlēno- or *mlīno- from the root *mel- ‘rub, grind’. 3. Ir. breo ‘flame’ : OE brīwan, brīw, etc. 4. W brig‘top, crest’ : Grk. . 5. Ir. bun, W bon ‘bottom’ from the root *bhen- ‘strike’ in Goth, banja, etc. 6. W clwyf ‘ wound, disease’ : Skt. klībá-. 7. Ir. crēcht ‘wound’ : MLG schrā, ON skrā, etc. 8. Ir. fennaim ‘flay’ : Skt. pari-vās-, etc. 9. Ir. gāba ‘danger’ : Russ, zabóta, OE cēpan. 10. W gosod ‘put’ derived from the root *st(h)ā- ‘stand’. 11. W hawdd ‘easy’, gwahodd ‘invite’ : Skt. sādhú-. 12. W hogen ‘girl’ from the root *seu-q- ‘suck’. 13. Br. miz ‘expense’ from OFr. mise. 14. Br. piz ‘stingy’ semantic borrowing from Fr. chiche. 15. On Ir. serrach ‘foal’. 16. W tor ‘tear’ : Lith. tárpas, etc. 17. W trwch ‘ broken, maimed’ : Lith. trúkti.]

Under breaking I include here the change of a front vowel in a stressed syllable to a diphthong by the influence of following velar elements whether these be consonants in the same syllable or vowels in the next. We have to do then with OE consonantal breaking and with ON breaking, and also with that phase of velarization of front vowels in OE which, since the eighties of the last century, has come to be called u-o/a-umlaut. The last is, of course, a velar-vowel breaking. My thesis is that these three phenomena are not only similar in nature but directly related in origin.

§8. Noun Structure. With the exception of those of Class 10, nouns in Chichewa are composed of two formatives: stem and prefix, generally speaking, but in numerous cases only the stem is represented. However, in a number of instances the nouns which are used without prefixes in the singular require prefixation in the plural. For some, nouns of Class 5, e. g., it can be said definitely that the prefixes have disappeared or are ‘worn down’, since they can be easily recognized in cognate words of other Bantu languages.1 It requires more historical perspective to make a similar statement for many other nouns.

This article treats of Indo-European initial sl in relation to initial stl found in some of the derived languages. Since we discuss only the initial position that position will be understood whenever sl or stl is mentioned.

The theory is that sl is the original sound, retained by some languages, but which in some other languages became stl by a post-Indo-European intercalation of t.

The phonetic interpretation of the cuneiform sign in Hittite texts is a matter about which scholars have not yet reached an agreement. The Akkadian values that have been assumed at one time or another for Hittite words are be, pè, bat, pát, pít, and mit. The distinction between be and pè and between bat and pát is without meaning for Hittite orthography, since the b and p signs are in general employed indiscriminately, and it is now agreed that there is no good evidence for the value mit. There is, however, still difference of opinion as to the remaining three values, be, bat, and pít.

In the following I will discuss a few features of the language of the Dakota Indians which seem to have a wider linguistic interest.

The first refers to the phonetic rendering of a close association of ideas. The initial vowel of Dakota words is preceded by a glottal closure. When, therefore, a word with terminal consonant precedes a word with initial vowel there is a decided break following the consonant. The consonant does not become glottalized but the glottal closure follows it.

[Continuation of the work published in Language 6.1-24 (1930); 9.47-71, 171-91 (1933); 10.149-201 (1934).]

The word aller has called forth a great variety of etymological explanations, none of which is completely satisfactory to the linguistic scholar. However, I make bold to offer a fresh contribution to the problem, in the hope that it will fulfill all three requirements of a good etymon, phonological, historical, and semantic.

The well-known hypothesis, that aller comes from the rapid giving of military commands, ambulemus, *amlemus, *allemus, offers serious phonological difficulties. Not only does ambulare give embler regularly in Old French, but, in addition, both ambulare and alare appear in the Reichenau Glosses. Furthermore, it is not necessary to seek a common etymon for the verb 'to go' in Romance, since the very confusion of forms existing in the conjugation of this verb in all the Romance tongues is enough warrant for positing a separate origin for the Northern French aller.

§25. Structure of the Verb. Except in certain forms of the imperative mood, the verb is composed of at least three formative elements : prefix, stem, and vowel suffix.

Ærnen intrans., wk. ‘to ride, go on horseback; go, pass’, etc. OE ærnan intrans. and trans. (See also irnen, eornen below.)

The verb is rare in OE, and its precise sense is hardly determinable from the two passages, from the OE Bede and Orosius respectively, cited in Bosworth-Toller. Madden, however, Glossarial Remarks 3.470, cites an illuminating passage from Alfred's Laws: gif hie fah mon geierne oþþe geærne ‘reach (a church) by running or by riding’ (see Alfred's English Laws, Cap. 5). This passage where the two verbs are contrasted, the latter being here transitive, is also quoted by Toller in the Supplement. With this cp. the quotations from Laamon in (ii) below. The verb, in the Pret. Pl., occurs also in the Battle of Maldon, where it is transcribed ærdon by Hearne. All editors except Thorpe, Müller, Grein, and Wülcker agree in reading ærndon.

Die Methoden der Wortforschung können im allgemeinen nicht den Anspruch erheben, daβ sie mit den neuesten Erkenntnissen der Entwicklungsgeschichte Schritt gehalten haben. Es genügt nicht, Wurzelwörterbücher zusammenzustellen und alle Wörter, die die gleiche Wurzel haben, unter eine Rubrik zu bringen. Das ist eine gewiβ sehr notwendige und oft mühevolle Arbeit, aber sie endet meist auf einem toten Geleise. Was nützt uns beispielweise die Erkenntnis, daβ die semitische Wurzel phr ‘sammel’ bedeutet, und daβ behauptet wird, von dieser Wurzel stammen nun alle Wörter mit den Radikalen phr, einschlieβlich pahru Töpfer' (weil dieser den Ton ‘sammelt’)? Was nützt es uns, wenn die indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft feststellt, daβ agr- das gemeinsame Wort für ‘Acker’ ist, was nützt es, wenn wir eine semitische Wurzel rq aufstellen, um dann zu behaupten, das Wort für ‘grün’ sei davon abgeleitet? Ist denn das ‘Sammeln’ früher als der Mensch, der sammelt, ist das ‘Grün’ eher als das ‘grüne Kraut’, kann man sich bei einem Urwort agr- überhaupt etwas denken? Das soll doch letzten Endes das Ziel der Sprachwissenschaft sein, die Entwicklung des menschlichen Denkens, das in der Sprache seinen beredtesten Ausdruck findet, zu erforschen, wenigstens soweit uns das möglich ist. Und es ist bei einigem guten Willen wirklich möglich, weiter zu kommen, wie nur an obigen Beispielen gezeigt werden soll.

§38. The copula, ni, is employed as a link between subject and predicate. It is also, although rarely, used with the significance of the English auxiliary ‘to be able’.1 Morphologically, it is an invariable form, i. e., no affixes can be appended to it; but it undergoes considerable phonetic change. These phonetic changes may be summarized as follows: (1) It may be reduced to syllabic η (η), which in turn may become n or m, according to the initial consonant of the following word.2 (2) It combines with the initial i of the personal pronouns and demonstratives that have initial i, giving the forms :3

On June 26, 1935, the expedition of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago found at Persepolis a number of inscribed stone tablets, made in the shape and fashion of clay tablets, and bearing an important document of King Xerxes. Two tablets bore the Old Persian text, one the Akkadian version, and one the Elamite. A translation with a certain amount of historical commentary was given out by the Oriental Institute as a newspaper release, appearing in The New York Times for Feb. 9, 1936, and also in The University of Chicago Magazine 28.4.23–5 (Feb. 1936). This formed the basis for my own remarks on the inscription, in JAOS 56.211–5 (June 1936). A photographic view of the tablets at the place of discovery, with some explanatory remarks by Eric F. Schmidt, of the Expedition, was given in the Illustrated London News for Feb. 22, 1936, page 328; an abstract of this was presented in Archiv für Orientforschung 11.91 (first semester 1936). The actual text in the original languages was not accessible until it was published by Ernst Herzfeld in Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 8.56–77 (Nov. 1936); he had previously published in the Revue de l'Histoire des Religions 113.21–41 (Jan.–Feb. 1936) an address on Die Religion der Achaemeniden, originally delivered as an address at the Sixth Congress of the History of Religions at Brussels, Sept. 18, 1935, in which he drew upon the new material contained in these tablets. The latest bibliographic item which has come to my attention is a study by Hans Hartmann in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 40.145–60 (March 1937).