Some interchanges of consonant in in initial position are found in the
Proto-Indo-European structure. The most common example of them is the case
with the initial k- in some words. It sometimes disappears
but sometimes remains as it was, and still linguists cannot say with sure
how the word for "a bone" sounded in the Proto-Indo-European language:
kost- like in Balto-Slavic, or ost- like in
Celto-Italic. This is really a case for Word-A-Week:
it is hast- in Hittite, odb in Old Irish, os,
ossis in Latin, though it had also costa (a
rib), kost' in Russian etc.
See in the next Issue:
- Initial mutations in Indo-European
languages, are they an original feature?
- What was the influence of pre-Indo-European
substratum on ancient Europeans?
- Phonetic processes that cannot be explained
yet?