Etymology — krr & trr

Started by kodivk, July 13, 2021, 12:44:32 AM

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kodivk

Kaltxì all,

First post here! I'm interested in the historical linguistics of Na'vi and was wondering if any etymological link has ever been hypothesized between krr and trr, considering how similar they are in form and meaning. Are there any there other examples of a t/k alternation (or similar sorts of consonant alternations) in roots? Or is this just a coincidence?

Irayo!

Mako

#1
Quote from: kodivk on July 13, 2021, 12:44:32 AM
Kaltxì all,

First post here! I'm interested in the historical linguistics of Na'vi and was wondering if any etymological link has ever been hypothesized between krr and trr, considering how similar they are in form and meaning. Are there any there other examples of a t/k alternation (or similar sorts of consonant alternations) in roots? Or is this just a coincidence?

Irayo!

Good day and welcome to LearnNa'vi!

There's nothing concrete to share, however allow me to speculate a little bit based on a brief inquiry into our dictionary.

Two adpositions exist, ta, from or since (with temporal words) and ka, across or covering. Perhaps there's some validity to a link to these words? Krr is more broadly covering while trr is more localized, time measured since an event?

Komum oe! So, just to be thorough, I've also asked the language's creator who occasionally keeps good notes on these original words. I will update here if I hear back from him.

Update:
Quote from: Paul Frommer
Kxì, ma Mako!

Excellent question, but I'm afraid the answer will be disappointing: There's no known etymological link. The two words are independent, and the similarity appears to be a coincidence . . . unless upon investigating more deeply we eventually discover there was a connection at an earlier stage of Na'vi.

P.

Toliman

Keftxo, it was very interesting idea!