Abstract

This paper deals with the Mycenaean representatives of three IE verbal roots: *terk u̯ - ‘twist’, *trep- ‘turn’ and *streg u̯h - ‘turn, rotate’. Mycenaean data show that the derivatives of *terk u̯ - were still differentiated before the loss of labiovelar stops in post-Mycenaean times and that the verb στρέφω ‘turn, twist, rotate’ stems from *streg u̯h -. Semantic interference among these roots is already underway in the Mycenaean period, anticipating the convergence of *terk u̯ - with *trep- and *streg u̯h - in the first millennium.

Highlights

  • The Mycenaean lexicon has been a very important source for Greek etymology

  • Some conspicuous cases are e-ne-ka ἕνεκα ‘on account of’, which invalidated the traditional etymology supposing a wāw after the nasal on the basis of Hom. εἵνεκα; qa-si-re-u ‘foreman’, which imposes the existence of an initial labiovelar stop for the Prehellenic word βασιλεύς

  • The same can be said of τρέπω ‘turn’ and στρέφω ‘turn, twist, rotate’, whose Mycenaean representatives exhibit a labiovelar stop that imposes a relation of τρέπω with *terku- and a root *streguh- instead of *strebh- for στρέφω

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Summary

Introduction

Some conspicuous cases are e-ne-ka ἕνεκα ‘on account of’, which invalidated the traditional etymology supposing a wāw after the nasal on the basis of Hom. εἵνεκα; qa-si-re-u ‘foreman’, which imposes the existence of an initial labiovelar stop for the Prehellenic word βασιλεύς The purpose of this paper is to show that the affinities between three verbal roots, *trep-, *terku- and *streguh-, gave rise to a conflation and reduction into two Greek verbs, τρέπω and στρέφω This process was on-going in the Mycenaean period and was completed after the loss of labiovelar stops

Etymological proposals regarding τρέπω and στρέφω
Mycenaean representatives of τρέπω and στρέφω
Conclusions

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