Reconstruction talk:Proto-Germanic/brimą

Etymology

There is a PIE root *bʰreyH- (“to cut”) that would fit this word formally. Perhaps from a Pre-Germanic mo-stem *bʰriHmós (“a cutting”), maybe a reference to the breaking of waves or a boat moving through the water. Anglom (talk) 19:07, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

But that would leave the short -i- of the Germanic word unanswered. —CodeCat 19:25, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

It would undergo pretonic shortening before the resonant, yes? As *suHnús > *sunuz, *ḱuHlós > *hulaz. Anglom (talk) 19:38, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

I've not heard of such a rule in Germanic. —CodeCat 20:54, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Kroonen refers to it as Dybo's law(I'm not really sure why, Wikipedia says it's a Slavic sound change?), he gives the above examples, as well as *alinō(with change to -ī- later on) < *Heh₃léneh₂, *wiraz < *wiHrós, *glaną < *gʰloh₃nóm, *delō < *dʰeh₁léh₂(although Beekes gives *dʰ(e)h₁iléh₂, I think). Anglom (talk) 21:23, 16 October 2014 (UTC)