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On the source of Hittite ḫ

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Extract

In dealing with the origin of Hittite ḫ, Danish ‘laryngealists’ seem reluctant to give up the idea of deriving it from an IE k-sound. This theory originated with Bedřich Hrozny, who, in several IE etymologies for Hittite words, implied that their initial ḫ- reflected an IE guttural. The tentative conclusions of the Czech linguist were soon worked out by Carl J. S. Marstrander, on the assumption that Hitt. ḫ- continues IE *ĝh- (gh). The evidence adduced being most questionable, this view failed to carry conviction; yet other prominent linguists, later on, considered Hitt. ḫ a reflex of IE gutturals. Johannes Friedrich derived Hitt. ḫu-iš-nu-zi ‘cause to live’ from IE *gwī- ‘live’, whereas Holger Pedersen compared Hitt. ḫa-an-te-iz-zi-iš ‘first’ with OIr. cét-, cétne, W cyntaf ‘first’, Gaul. Cintugnatus.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1952 Linguistic Society of America

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