Eichner’s law: a critical survey of the evidence

Pronk, T.C. (2019)

Article / Letter to editor

In a 1973 article on the etymology of Hitt. mēḫur ‘time, period’, Eichner argued that Proto-Indo-European *h2 did not colour *ē. This rule, which is commonly referred to as Eichner’s law, was later extended to also apply to *h3. This article reassesses the evidence that would show that *ē is not coloured by an adjacent laryngeal. It also analyzes some potential counterevidence to Eichner’s law. This leads to the conclusion that PIE *ē was coloured by an adjacent laryngeal in at least Greek, Baltic and Italo-Celtic and that there is insufficient evidence for non-colouration of *ē in any of the other branches of Indo-European.

• All authors: Pronk, T.C.
• Date: 2019
• Journal: Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft
• Volume: 73
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 121 - 155