*b^hér-/b^hr̥-´

If the semantics of CLuw. par-^(ti) as ‘to carry’ are correct, it would attest a root verb of the mi-conjugation, i.e. *b^hér-/b^hr̥-´ ‘to carry’ (see Melchert 2016a:205 and Sasseville 2021a:269). Based on Luwian and Lycian evidence, a factitive verb *b^horéh₂- can also be reconstructed, at least for Proto-Luwic. Note also the factitive formation in Hitt. papraḫḫ-⁽ⁱ⁾ ‘to make impure’, which is however based on different semantics of the nominal base *b^horéh₂- ‘carrying, that which is carried’ → ‘impurities’. It is therefore noteworthy to see the semantics of impurity present not only in Hitt. paprātar n. ‘impurity’ (< *b^hə-b^hr-éh₂-t-r̥/n-) and all its reduplicated derivatives, but also in CLuw. paratt(a)- n. ‘impurity’ (*b^hr-é-to- or *b^hr-ó-to-) and Pal. purtaḫi- c. ‘impurity’ (< *b^hr̥-teh₂-i-), all built on various t-suffixes. For a list of outdated hypotheses vis-à-vis the Hittite word family of paprātar, see HEG P:428, HED P:106, EDHIL:629.

[D.S.]

The meaning of this root is much more intriguing than a first glance through the attested verbal forms might suggest Unfortunately, there is no discussion of the root semantics in neither the LIV² nor the NIL.. The majority of present stems in the individual branches can mean both ‘carry, bear’ and ‘bring, bring forth’, yet from a grammatical perspective, these two meanings are quite distinct and reflect two different lexical aspects or verbal characters (German “Verbalcharakter” or “Aktionsart”): ‘carry, bear’ is durative-atelic, whereas ‘bring, bring forth’ is durative-telic (Gotō 1987a:225, 227; cf. Malzahn 2019a for the terminology; note that “telic” is not synonymous with “punctative/momentative”). This is somewhat surprising as normally, PIE roots can be divided (more or less neatly) into two groups: they are either telic or atelic, but rarely both at the same time For a more fine-grained analysis of the possible verbal characters see Malzahn 2019a.. There is some evidence, however, that suggests that the root *b^her- originally had a durative-telic (quasi “terminative”) lexical aspect and meant ‘to carry sth. from one place to another’ (whence ‘carry off’ and ‘bring’ depending on the speaker’s perspective). The root noun *b^hór- ‘thief’ (Gk. φώρ, Lat. fūr), for example, implies a meaning ‘someone who carries sth. away’ and not just ‘carrier of sth.’ (cf. also Lat. furtum ‘theft, robbery; a stolen thing’ < *b^hr̥tó- ‘carried away’ as per Meier-Brügger, see NIL:29 note 97). Similarly, Hittite kapart-, kapirt- c. ‘mouse’ has been interpreted as containing a root-noun second member *°-b^hēr-t-, *°-b^hr̥-t- (see Rieken 1999a:88; differently Kroonen 2016a), which, judging from PIE *múh_xs- ‘mouse’ and the probably underlying root preserved in Vedic muṣṇā́ti ‘steals, robs’, likewise implies a meaning ‘carry away’ and not just ‘carry’ for the second member or the compound (but cf. *kom-b^hereti > Middle Welsh cymer, 1sg cymeraf ‘take’). See also Lydian kaprdoki-^(d) ‘to forfeit (?)’. In addition, there is scant but noteworthy evidence of a root aorist with a lengthened grade *b^hḗr-t (Vedic bhār ‘brought’, Old Irish birt ‘carried off’, Vedic impv. 2du bhartám ‘bring!’, Greek impv. 2pl φέρτε ‘bring!’, Toch. A impf. 3sg pārat). Such (sc. acrostatic) Narten root aorists — the source of the late PIE sigmatic aorist (see Malzahn 2020a:147–149 for a “Forschungsgeschichte” and references) — are typical for roots with durative-telic, terminative lexical aspect such as ‘grow old’ (*g̑erh₂-see Peters 1980a:314 with note 259; Malzahn 2021a), ‘give birth to/be born’ (*g̑enh₁-see Peters 1980a:27f. note 19; Malzahn 2019a:229), ‘cross over, overcome’ (*terh₂-see Malzahn 2020a), ‘rise’ (*h₃er-see Malzahn 2019a:229), or ‘devise, reach by counsel or deliberation’ (*med-see Höfler 2014a:303–305; for an interpretation of all these long-vowel preterites as Narten imperfects, see Jasanoff 2012a.). These roots usually also form (athematic, amphidynamic, non-Narten) root presents and (secondarily) thematic presents that could have atelic or telic meaning (e.g., root present OIr. gniid ‘makes’ as per Malzahn 2019a:229 with note 21., thematic present Ved. jára- ‘age (tr./intr.); (make) reach old age’, tára- ‘cross over; conquer’), which aligns nicely with *b^hér-ti (CLuw. par-^(ti), Ved. bhárti, OAv. impv. 3sg barətū, Lat. fers, fert, ferre) and *b^hér-e-ti (Ved. bhárati, OAv. baraitī, Gk. φέρω, Arm. berem, OIr. berid, etc.) in both their meanings ‘carries’ and ‘carries off, brings’. Reconstructing a durative-telic root ‘to carry sth. from one place to another’ also accounts for the meaning ‘carry off’ assumed here for Cuneiform Luwian para-^(ti), papra-⁽ⁱ⁾, etc.

As one of the best attested roots within PIE, the reconstruction of *b^her- is quite uncontroversial (for a potential seṭ variant [qua root extension?] *b^herh_x- see Peters 1980a:29, Vine 1989a:128). Somewhat more contentious is the existence of an (athematic, amphidynamic, non-Narten) root present *b^hér-ti (cf. “Aor./Präs. ?*b^hér-/b^hr-” in LIV²:76), for which there is, however, ample evidence (see above), including now the possible cognate CLuw. par-^(ti). The almost universally attested thematic present *b^hér-e-ti (see above), then, likely continues the thematized root present. Schmitt’s assumption that the preservation of relic forms of the older root present *b^hér-ti might be due to their established usage in ritual-formulaic language, is of course very plausible (see Schmitt 1967a:263f.).

The *-eh₂-stem presupposed by the interpretation of denominal CLuw. para-^(ti) ‘to carry (off)’ given above under CLuw. para-^(ti) ‘to carry (off)’ recurs in Greek φορά ‘carrying, load’, PGmc. *barō- f. in ON barar f. pl. tant. ‘stretcher, funeral bier’, Albanian barrë ‘burden, load’, though the meaning of these suggests a later, independent derivation from the underlying verb ‘carry’.

[S.H.]

Cuneiform Luwian par-^(ti) ‘to carry (?)’, para-^(ti) ‘to carry (off)’,papra-⁽ⁱ⁾, etc.See above, Cuneiform Luwian para-^(ti) ‘to carry (off)’ and Cuneiform Luwian papra-⁽ⁱ⁾.

Vedic bhárati ‘carries, brings’, bhárti ‘wears’ (RV 1.173.6), ví … bharti ‘carries away’ (6.13.3), bibhárti ‘carries’, aor. 3sg abhār, 1sg abhārṣam, perf. jabhā́ra, etc.Cf., e.g., EWAia I 246–249 s.v. BHAR, Werba 1997a:212f., LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-, Gotō 1987a:225–228; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Old Avestan baraitī ‘carries, brings’, impv. 3sg barətū ‘shall bring’, Old Persian 3pl barantiy, etc.Cf., e.g., EWAia I 246–249 s.v. BHAR, ALF:190, Schmitt 1967a:263f., LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Greek φέρω ‘bear, carry, bring’, Mycenaean 3sg pe-re /pʰerei/, impv. 2pl φέρετε and φέρτε (Il. 9.171), φορέω ‘bear’, etc.Cf., e.g., GEW II:1102–1105 s.v. φέρω, EDG:1562–1564 s.v. φέρω, DMic II:102f. s.v. pe-re, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Latin ferō, fers, ferre ‘carry, bear, bring’, Volscian ferom (inf.), Marrucinian feret (pres. 3sg), ferenter (pres. 3pl pass.), Umbrian fertu (impv. 3sg), ferest (fut. 3sg), Oscan ferríns (subj. 3pl), etc.Cf., e.g., WH I:483–485 s.v. ferō, EDLIL:213 s.v. ferō, Untermann 2000a:275–278, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Armenian berem ‘carry, bring’, aor. eber, etc.Cf., e.g., Klingenschmitt 1982a:128, EDAIL:176, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Old Irish berid, ·beir, 1sg biru, ·biur ‘carry, bear, bring (forth)’, pret. 3sg birt, ·bert, Middle Welsh beryt, 1sg beraf ‘flow, drip’, cymer, 1sg cymeraf ‘take’ (*kombereti), pret. 3sg kymyrth, Middle Breton ber, 1sg beraff ‘flow’, etc.Cf., e.g., Schumacher 2004a:218–223, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-, LIV2+ s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Proto-Germanic *beran- ‘bear, carry, give birth’ (Gothic bairan, Old Norse bera, Swedish bæra, Old English beran, English bear, Old High German beran, German gebären, etc.), perf. 3sg *bar, 3pl *bērun (Goth. bar, bērun, ON bar, báru, OE bær, bǣron), etc.Cf., e.g., Seebold 1970a:104–106 s.v. ber-a-, EDPG:59 s.v. *beran-, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Tocharian B 3sg paräṃ, 3pl pareṃ ‘bear, wear, carry, take’, Tocharian A 3sg mid. partär, 3pl prantär, etc.Cf., e.g., Hackstein 1995a:21, Adams 1999a:371 s.v. pär-, Malzahn 2010a:706f., LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Lithuanian beriù (inf. ber̃ti) ‘strew, scatter; shed’, byrù (bìrti), birù (birė́ti) ‘be scattered’, Latvian beŗu (ber̃t) ‘id.’ (?).Cf., e.g., ALEW I:115 s.v. ber̃ti, arguing for a separate root *ber-, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Old Church Slavonic berǫ (inf. bьrati) ‘take, collect’, Russian berú (brátʹ), Serbo-Croatian berem (brati), Polish biorę (brać), etc.Cf., e.g., EDSIL:73 s.v. *bьrati, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Albanian bie ‘bring, deliver’, bjerr ‘lose, forfeit’, etc.Cf., e.g., Demiraj 1997a:99f. s.v. bíe, 104 s.v. bjérr, LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-, Schumacher & Matzinger 2013a:966f., LIV2+ s.v. *b^her-; for the nominal derivatives see NIL:15–19.

Phrygian (κακουν) αββερετ, αββερεται ‘brings (harm)’, Messapic opt. 3pl berain ‘shall bring’.Cf., e.g., LIV²:76f. s.v. *b^her-, LIV2+ s.v. *b^her.