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Linguistic Society of America

A Note on Author(s): Ralph MarcusReviewed work(s):Source: Language, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Sep., 1932), pp. 216-217Published by: Linguistic Society of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/409654 .

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216 MISCELLANEALike Kock, Heusler uses the symbol h for x. Heusler's assumptionthat the assimilation of *-xt to -tt resulted only in the geminated con-

sonant, but not in compensative lengthening of the preceding vowel,can be correct only if we accept his contention that dtta was deriveddirectly from *dxta, for the vowel in *-dxta was already long. But likeKock, Heusler does not tell us why PN *dxt5 should become *dxta.Both Kock and Heusler have, in my opinion, overlooked the vitalphase of this problem, viz. the fact that the spirant x, before it becameassimilated to the following -t, must first have been reduced to a merebreathing4 (h), i.e., *-xt > *-ht > -tt. Therefore dtta could not havebeen derived directly from *dxtaor *axtau (as Heusler and Kock main-tain) but from an intermediate stage with the breathing, i.e., -ht-.Now, the breathing (h) required less time for pronunciation' than didthe spirant (x); hence the preceding vowel was lengthened6in compen-sation for the time lost in the reduction of the spirant to the breathing,i.e., *axto> *-dhta > dtta. The vowel was not lengthened before thespirant x (as Kock and Heusler maintain) but before the breathing h.In other cases of assimilation of spirant to stop no such reduction intime element can be assumed as in *-xt > *-ht > -tt (cf. -bt > -tt, *glaft >glatt; -fb > bb, *af-binde > abbinde,etc.).ALBERTMOREY STURTEVANT

4Wherever x was lost, it first became a breathing; cf. Heusler ?167.5As is shown by the fact that the spirant first became a breathing before it waslost.

6 Thus it is possible that before a single h the preceding vowel had already be-gun to be lengthened before the h finally disappeared; thus *sdx > *sdh> sd.

A NOTE ON KapcptovIn LANGUAGE6. 279 ff. Professor Preveden, in an article designed toshow that Church Slavonic korabz is not derived from Greek Kaipapov,writes:But even Kapt&/LovStephanus-Didot 4.956; Du Cange2 1.589) apart fromoccasional interpolations, does not appear sooner than in the texts of the 8th

century (Pope Zachary's Gr.Dialogues, etc.). This is just as we would expect it,since the diminutive KapOhLOV an appear only after K paflos from which it isderived.This statement is subject to correction. Kapad4tovin the meaningof 'small boat' appears as a Greek loan word in the Ecclesiastical His-sory of John Bishop of Ephesus, written in Syriac in the second half of

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MISCELLANEA 217the 6th century. In John's account of the joint reign of Justinus andTiberius (574-578 A. D.) he describes the latter's extravagance in thefollowing words (ed. Jessie Payne Margoliouth, Semitic Study SeriesXIII, Leiden 1909: 14): 'So that even when he was on the sea in adarman (Gr. bpb'wv), rom all sides hastened qarabhiy? Gr. Kapa~ptaithSyriac plural ending), and to all of them he threw largesses.'In this one sentence occur two Greek loan words denoting boats.There can be no question of the derivation or meaning of either. If,then, Kapd~tLOvould be used in a Syriac work of the 6th century, wemust assume its common use in Greek in the 5th century, and, in accord-ance with Professor's Preveden's own reasoning, assume the use ofKapaposn a still earlier period. RALPH MARCUS

Two NAVAHOPUNSIt is a well known fact, often stressed by Boas, that the AmericanIndians do not go in for riddles and proverbs. What few exceptionshave been found serve only to emphasize the rule. If to riddles and

proverbs we add puns, as it seems we have a right to do, it begins toappear likely that the American Indian has a generalized lack of in-terest in light verbal fancy. There is plenty of metaphor in his rituals,there is considerable etymologizing ad hocin his legends, and his oratoryis famous, but the zest in quick, irresponsible reinterpretation of familiarwords or phrases which lies at the bottom of the pleasure that we experi-ence in the telling of riddles, proverbs, and puns seems strangely un-Indian, whatever may be the reason.Yet puns are not entirely absent, as the two following Navaho ex-amples show. They were collected in the summer of 1929 at Crystal,New Mexico.In a council held some time ago the leader of one of the two contend-ing parties said,' xdct'-' ndhano"d'" 'You people decide on one thing!'A cripple who was present whispered to one near by, ndcidi"'d"'Pickme up!' The latter, catching on at once, picked up the cripple and,holding him in his arms, asked, xd-dic ndh~rc'd-' 'Where am I to puthim down?' Everybody laughed. This is said to be a favorite anec-dote among the Navaho and depends for its point on the double mean-ing of the verb n6-hd-ni- . .. -'da', which may mean either 'todecide on the matter' or 'to put him down'.1Grave accent (a) represents low tone, acute (d) high tone, circumflex (d) fall-ing tone.