*kʷetwóres rule

Sound law in Proto-Indo-European PIE June 2024 The ine-x-proto kʷetwóres rule of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is a sound law of PIE accent, stating that in a word of three syllables é-o-X the accent will be moved to the penultimate, e-ó-X. It had been observed by earlier scholars, but it was only in the 1980s that it attracted enough attention to be named, probably first by Helmut Rix in 1985. Examples: ine-x-proto kʷetwóres < ine-x-proto kʷétwores "four" (la quattuor) singular accusatives, of r-stems, ine-x-proto swes-ór-m̥ < ine-x-proto swés-or-m̥ "sister" acc. singular of r-stems, ine-x-proto ǵʰes-ór-m̥ < ine-x-proto ǵʰés-or-m̥ "hand" acc. singular of s-stems, ine-x-proto h₂ews-ós-m̥ < ine-x-proto h₂éws-os-m̥ "Ausos" (Vedic Sanskrit inc uṣā́sam) The rule is fed by an assumed earlier sound law that changes è to ò after an accented syllable: ine-x-proto kʷetwóres < ine-x-proto kʷétwores < ine-x-proto kʷétweres. Rix invoked the rule in the 1998 preface to the de Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben yes (p. 22) to explain why in the PIE perfect the root ó grade is accented: ine-x-proto ǵe-ǵónh- / ine-x-proto ǵé-ǵn̥h- < ine-x-proto ǵé-ǵenh- / ine-x-proto ǵé-ǵn̥h- "created/engendered". The rule has been invoked by Mottausch to explain accented ó grades in the PIE nominal ablaut. See also Glossary of sound laws in the Indo-European languages References G. Klingenschmitt de Die Lateinische Nominalflexion yes (1992), p. 44. M. Kümmel, de Stativ und Passivaorist yes (1996), p. 9. K.-H. Mottausch, de Die idg. Nominalflexion und die o-Stufe yes HS 113 (2000). K.-H. Mottausch, de Die thematischen Nomina im Idg. yes HS 114 (2001). H. Rix, sūdor and sīdus in: FS Knobloch (ed. Ölberg, 1985), p. 348 K. Stüber, de Die primären s-Stämme yes (2002), p. 24f. Category:Indo-European sound laws Category:Reconstructed words