*tórmo-

The comparison of Hitt. tarma- c. ‘nail, peg’, Luw. tarm(i)- c. ‘id.’ and Lyc. *trm͂me/i- leads to the reconstruction of a Proto-Anatolian substantive *tórmo- c. ‘nail, peg’ (Melchert 1994a:99, Kimball 1999a:381, EDHIL:844f., HEG T:186f., Sasseville 2021a:229). The o-grade in the root is based on the Greek cognate τόρμος ‘socket (in which a peg is stuck)’, whereas a zero-grade would also be phonologically possible based on the Anatolian cognates alone. Both Hittite and Luwian created a denominative verb from this substantive, i.e. Hitt. tarmā(i)-^(mi) and CLuw. tarm(a)i-^(di), which appear to be independent from one another, because they do not continue the same derivational suffixes, i.e. *-éh₂-i̯e/o- and *-éi̯e/o- respectively.

[D.S.]

PIE *torh₁-mo- m. means ‘nail, peg; hole, socket’. However, the semantic difference between ‘nail, peg’, on the one hand, and ‘hole, socket’, on the other, might require the reconstruction of two formally similar, but semantically different stems, one meaning *‘piercing, boring (thing)’ > ‘nail, peg’ and the other *‘pierced, bored, drilled (thing)’ > ‘hole, socket’. 

Hitt. tarma- c. ‘nail, peg’, Luw. tarm(i)- c. ‘id.’, and Lyc. *trm͂me/i- ‘id.’ point to a Proto-Anatolian stem *tormo- c. ‘nail, peg’ (cf. above sub PAnat. Reconstruction with further lit.). According to Nussbaum 2010a:275 n. 20, “Hitt. tarma- […] presumably reflects *tor(h₁)-mo-”, which is based on the PIE root *terh₁- ‘to pierce, drill, bore, rub’ vel sim. (LIV²:632f.) and lost its internal laryngeal in PIE already due to de Saussure’s Law (PIE *oRHC > *oRC). Nussbaum ibid. plausibly adds that “Hitt. tarma- certainly has its best Greek comparandum in τόρμος ‘hole, socket’ (Hdt.+) and not in τέρμα [‘boundary, limit, end’] or τέρμων [‘boundary, end’]”. A further cognate is probably PGerm. *þarma- m. ‘bowel, intestine, gut’ (OHG darm, etc.). In EDHIL:845, the connection of Hitt. tarma- and Gk. τόρμος with the Germanic word is dismissed as “semantically unattractive”. Yet, the semantics can be plausibly accounted for, according to Kluge & Seebold 2011a:181 s.v. Darm: “Ausgangsbedeutung ist also ‘Loch’. Gemeint ist der Mastdarm vom After aus, nicht in erster Linie das Gedärm von Schlachttieren” (likewise EWAhd II:542f.). The combined evidence of Anatolian, Greek, and Germanic thus points to a PIE noun *torh₁-mo- ‘nail, peg; hole, socket’. However, the difference between the meanings ‘nail, peg’ and ‘hole, socket’, which seem difficult to reconcile, might require the reconstruction of two formally similar, but semantically distinct stems (see above sub Semantic Reconstruction). – The underlying root PIE *terh₁- ‘to pierce, drill, bore, rub’ vel sim. is well attested, with a variety of nominal and verbal derivatives (cf., e.g., IEW:1071f., EIEC:36, 424, Watkins 2000a:91 s.v. terǝ-¹, LIV²:632f.).

[T.S.]

Gk. τόρμος m. ‘hole, socket (in which a pin or peg is stuck); mortise; nave (of a wheel); tenon; projecting peg or pivot’Cf. LSJ s.v. (Hdt.+)Cf., e.g., GEW II:880, 913, EDG:1495. 

ON þarmr m. ‘bowel, intestine, gut’, OE þearm m. ‘id.’, OS tharm m. ‘id.’, OHG darm m. ‘id.’, etc.Cf., e.g., EWAhd II:541–543 s.v. darm, Kluge & Seebold 2011a:181 s.v. Darm, EDPG:535 s.v. *þarma-.