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The boukólos rule is a phonological rule of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). It states that a labiovelar stop (*kʷ, *gʷ, *gʷʰ) dissimilates to an ordinary velar stop (*k, *g, *gʰ) next to the vowel *u or its corresponding glide *w.
The rule is named after an example, the Ancient Greek word βουκόλος (bou-kólos; from Mycenaean Greek qo-u-ko-ro /ɡʷou̯kolos/) "cowherd", ultimately from PIE *gʷou-kolos, dissimilated from *gʷou-kʷolos. If the labiovelar had not undergone dissimilation, the word should have turned out as *bou-pólos, as in the analogously constructed αἰπόλος (ai-pólos) "goatherd" < *ai(ǵ)-kʷolos. The same dissimilated form *gʷou-kolos is the ancestor of Proto-Celtic *bou-koli-, the source of Welsh bugail (which would have had -b- rather than -g- if it had come from a form with *-kʷ-) and Irish buachaill, which is the common word for "boy" in the modern language.
Another example could be the Greek negation οὐκ (ouk), which Warren Cowgill has interpreted as coming from pre-Greek *ojukid < *(ne) h₂oju kʷid, meaning approximately "not on your life". Without the boukólos rule, the result would have been *οὐτ (out).
The rule is also found in Germanic, mainly in verbs, where labiovelars are delabialised by the epenthetic -u- inserted before syllabic resonants:
- Old High German queman ("to come"), past participle cuman ("come"), from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną and *kumanaz
- Gothic saiƕan, Old High German sehan ("to see"), past plural OHG sāgun ("saw"), from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną and *sēgun (-g- results from earlier -k- through Verner's law)
See also
- Weise's law, a similar Proto-Indo-European sound law affecting the palatovelar consonants
References
- Beekes, Robert Stephen Paul (2011). Comparative Indo-European linguistics: An Introduction (2nd ed.). John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-1185-9. LCCN 2011024057. OCLC 730054595. OL 25170256M. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
- ^ Fortson, Benjamin W. (2004). Indo-European Language and Culture. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7. LCCN 2004004901. OCLC 54529041. OL 3290290M.
- Matasović, Ranko (2009). Alexander Lubotsky (ed.). Etymological dictionary of proto-Celtic. Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1. LCCN 2008046609. OCLC 262430534. OL 23161484M. Wikidata Q119331105.
- Ringe, Don (13 July 2017). From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. A Linguistic History of English (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OSO/9780198792581.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-879258-1. OCLC 972772031. OL 27415350M. Wikidata Q119269648.
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