David Salo <dsalo@...> wrote



>    If kaimasan 'bedchamber' were derived from an original *kaimastamb, I

>suppose it would have the form kaimastan in Quenya (cf. sandastan

>'shield-barrier' from original *thandastam).  The form which actually

>appears is evidently a later compound.

>    But in early forms of Quenya (including that of the Noldor led by

>Feanor), I guess the pronunciation of sambe "chamber" was *thambe; that

is,

>just as sp- had become f-, and sk- had become ch- (later h-), so also st-

>had become th- in early Quenya.  -s- had become -z- long before the very

>late change (documented in 'The Shibboleth of Feanor') of -th- to -s-; so

>even an early compound *kaima-than could only have become kaimasan, never

>**kaimaran.



I don't think that sp- gave f directely in Quenya. There was a middle stage

(still preserved in "Classical Quenya", I guess), f being "normal" in

Quenya Noldorin (?only).



sp- > ph- (p aspirated, e.g. as in English pink) > f-,



sk- > kh- (k aspirated) > h- (no /x/ stage);



st- > th- (t aspirated) > s- ; *without* a stage of a full th (like in

English think).



This is deduced from LOTR App E : "The original Feanorian system also

possessed a grade with extended stems, both above and below the line. These

usually represented aspirated consonants (e.g. t+h, p+h, k+h), but might

represent other consonantal variations required."





EJK



______________________________________________________________________



Subscribe, unsubscribe, opt for a daily digest, or start a new e-group

at http://www.eGroups.com -- Free Web-based e-mail groups.