Reconsidering the problem of Vedic ūrdhváand Avestan ərəδβa-, arəduuī

The article proposes a straightforward solution to the long-standing problem of the reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European adjective *H3érH2dhu-/*H3r̥H2dhéu̯- ‘upright’ (thematized early on to *H3r̥(H2)dh-(e)u̯-ó-) and its originally athematic feminative *H3r̥H2dh-éu̯-iH2-/*H3r̥H2dh-u-i̯éH2- in Vedic and Avestan. It is proposed that the non-feminine stem of the adjective, reconstructable for Proto-Indo-Iranian as *Hr̥Hdhu̯ó-, has secondarily introduced the second laryngeal by analogy with the corresponding feminine stem *Hr̥ Hdhu̯ ī-́ (itself a transformation of the inherited mesodynamic form *Hr̥Hdháu̯ī-). As for Avestan, the strong stem of the feminine, where *ərdu̯ ī-́ would be expected, is argued to have been leveled to *ardu̯ ī-́ on the basis of the inherited oblique *ardui̯ā́

Adjective · Analogy · Basis (linear algebra) · Oblique case · Transformation (genetics) · Ancient Near East History · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution