Reconstruction talk:Proto-Indo-European/kapyéti

h₁ instead of h₂?

I fail to see how PIE *kh₂pyéti could possibly yield Slavic *čapati. Zero-grade *kh₂p- would give Slavic *kop- or *xop- and full-grade keh₂p- would give Slavic kap-. The sequence ča, on the other hand, points to earlier kē, which implies h₁ instead of h₂. Likewise, Latin perfect cēpī could not be formed, if the root contained h₂. In fact, of all the cognates listed under the root keh₂p-, only Greek κάπτω implies h₂. Is there an explanation that I'm not aware of? Either way, *čapati is an āye-stem, it cannot be the direct descendant of *kh₂pyéti. --EstendorLin (talk) 18:22, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

@EstendorLin: Proto-Slavic *čapati exhibit semantic and phonetic similarities with other similar forms such as *gabati, *capati, *xapati, which seems to indicate expressive origin. So you're right, there is no basis to suppose direct descent from *kh₂pyéti. The ā-type declension just adds to the problem, but it is not the decisive factor. In principle, there are indications that Slavic have mixed PIE *yé-declension with *ā-declension, e.g. in Proto-Slavic *orati (< Proto-Balto-Slavic *árˀtei). Hypothetically, one could explain the ā-declension in *čapati though this mechanism and eventual leveling (note that there is a derivative Proto-Slavic *čapľa (“heron”), which does exhibit *-yeh₂ ending.) The other problems you talk about, however, don't have sensible resolutions. Bezimenen (talk) 13:56, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Request to move to *kh₂pyéti

The general consensus seems to be that the a-grade was marginal in PIE (if existent at all). Moving the page to *kh₂pyéti would make more sense either way, given that it's derived from *keh₂p-. Sapphire Juniper (talk) 22:24, 31 October 2023 (UTC)