/puwa/

Ivanov 2001b:80-84 suggests that CLuw. pūwa ‘before’ goes back to the PIE root *b^huH- ‘to be’ (see PIE lemma below), which is semantically attractive (further defended by Rieken 2017a:21, contra Frotscher 2012a:177 with a faulty sound law). The HLuw. derivative /puwadi/ shows the lenition of the t-suffix following a long-accented vowel resulting from the loss of the laryngeal before stop, i.e. *b^hu̯éH-ti-. The CLuw. derivative pūwātil(i)- is built on the latter with the suffix *-lo-, i.e. *b^hu̯eH-tí-lo- (see under lemma for one attestation with plene -ī-). The base word pūwa must therefore represent the root noun with a zero-ending case such as locative, i.e. *b^hu̯éH-Ø, with loss of laryngeal in word-final position. As is obvious form the cuneiform spelling, the initial sequence *b^hu̯- has been syllabified to *b^huu̯- with retraction of the accent, i.e. *b^húu̯eH (see below under PIE lemma).Contra Melchert (DCL:s.v.), who reconstructs *apu- as the pre-form of pūwa, following a reconstruction by Dunkel (LIPP II:72). There is no solid basis for reconstructing a preverb *apu next to *apo despite its Mycenaean and Aeolic attestations, which must represent a phonologically reduced form ἀπό. Whereas the reduction of word-final o > u was expended to nouns and verbs in Arcado-Cyprian, the absence of the same expansion in Mycenaean and some Aeolic dialects does not justify reconstructing *apu for Proto-Indo-European (contra LIPP II:72 n. 32). The root is also found in the Lydian disjunction puk ‘or’.

[D.S.]

The basic meaning of the root *b^huh_x- is ‘to come into being, grow, become’ (LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-: “wachsen, entstehen, werden”). In view of the semantics, it is no surprise that this root comes to furnish (suppletive) forms of the copula and the verbum substantivum in many IE branches – by all appearances a Core IE development as there are no traces of this suppletion in Tocharian and Anatolian, where Luwian pūwa ‘formerly, in the past’ and Lydian puk ‘or’ (cf. Lithuanian bū́k (… bū́k) ‘(either …) or’?) are the only formations attested from this root.

On the strength of the Italic evidence (Latin subj. fuā- and the imperfect suffix *-βā-), the root-final laryngeal of *b^huh_x- is sometimes specified as *h₂ (thus LIV²:98f. s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-, especially note 1), but there are other explanations available for the vowel *-ā- in these forms (see, e.g., Weiss 2020a:440f., 445). The consistent zero grade in many places where we would expect a full grade (e.g., the root aorist *(e-)b^huh_x-t ‘became’ > Vedic ábhūt, Greek ἔφῡ(ν), Latin fū-, etc.; see Jasanoff 2017a:173f.) is a typical feature of roots with a virtual structure *°eu̯H (cf., e.g., the s-stem *púh_x-os, *púh_x-es- n. ‘pus’ > Vedic puvas- AVP, Greek πύος, Latvian puvesis, instead of expected **péu̯h_x-os). It is therefore a moot point whether the full grade of the root was *b^heu̯h_x- (as apparently in Vedic bhávati) or *b^hu̯eh_x- (as apparently in Greek φωλεός ‘den, lair’ < *b^hu̯oh_x-l°), as these root allomorphs can be of einzelsprachlich date (see Jasanoff 1997a).

However, the Anatolian evidence may tip the scales in favor of *b^hu̯eh_x- as the original full-grade structure of the root, as Luwian pūwa ‘formerly, in the past’ can be analyzed as the endingless locative of a root noun *b^hu̯éh_x- ‘what came to be (vel sim.)’. The root noun is also attested in Vedic bhū́- f. ‘world, space, form of existence’ with the expected generalization of the zero grade typical for these feminine root nouns in Vedic (see Schindler 1972b:73f.). Note that the assumed endingless loc. *b^hu̯éh_x ‘in the past’ and its Lindeman variant *b^huu̯éh_x, whence with accent retraction *b^húu̯eh_x > Luwian pūwa ‘formerly, in the past’ (see above under Reconstruction PAnat. *b^huu̯eH- ‘before’) is entirely parallel to *du̯éh₂- ‘distance’ (cf. acc. sg. *du̯éh₂-m > Hittite tuwān ‘to this side’, Greek δήν < *dwā́n ‘long, for a long while; far’; Schindler 1972b:37) and its potential endingless loc. *du̯éh₂ ~ *duu̯éh₂ ‘in the distance’ >> *dúu̯eh₂ > Hittite tūwa (tu-u-wa; NH) ‘far’ Note that Schindler’s reconstruction in Schindler 1972b:37 of tu-u-wa as zero-grade *duh₂- plus ending fails because of the expected preservation of *h₂ as ḫ. Kloekhorst in EDHIL:904 s.v. tūu̯a sees tūwa as an analogical creation based on tuwān and tūwaz ‘from afar’, as the latter two are already attested in OS whereas tūwa is limited to NH. This, however, may be a coincidence. Note that tuwān means ‘to this side, here’, which does not seem like the ideal basis for an analogical creation of a back-formed tūwa ‘far’..

[S.H.]

Cuneiform Luwian pūwa ‘formerly, in the past’, Hieroglyphic Luwian /puwa/ ‘formerly’, Lydian puk ‘or’.

Vedic bhávati ‘becomes, is’, aor. ábhūt ‘became’, perf. babhū́va ‘is, has become’, fut. bhaviṣyáti ‘will become’, bhū́- f. ‘world, space, form of existence’, etc.Cf., e.g., EWAia II:255–257 s.v. BHAV^I, II:267 s.v. bhū́-, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Young Avestan bauuaiti ‘becomes’, Old Avestan aor. subj. buuaitī ‘will become’, Old Persian opt. biyā ‘may be’, Young Avestan perf. 3pl. bābuuarə ‘have become’, etc.Cf., e.g., LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Ancient Greek φύομαι ‘grow, become’ (epic φῠ́ομαι, Attic φῡ́ομαι), φύω ‘bring forth’, aor. intr. φῦναι, 3sg. ἔφῡ(ν), trans. φῦσαι, fut. φύσομαι, φύσω, perf. intr. πέφῡκα (Il.+), etc.Cf., e.g., GEW II:1051–1054 s.v. φύομαι, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Latin fīō, fī̆erī (Ennius fīere) ‘become, be made, happen, appear’ (Liv. Andr.+), Old Latin subj. fuās ‘you shall be’, Latin perf. fūī ‘was’, Oscan 3pl. prs. fiíet, fiiet, 3pl. perf. fufens ‘they were’, 3pl. impf. (< plpf.) fufans ‘they were’, Pre-Samnite 3pl. perf. fυf(υ)ϝοδ ‘they were’, Umbrian 3sg. prs. subj. fuia.Cf., e.g., WH I:504f. s.v. fīō, EDLIL: s.v., Untermann 2000a:279f. s.v. fiíet, 246f. s.v. ezum, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-, LIV²+s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Old Irish 3sg. biid, ·bí ‘is (usually), tends to be’, 3sg. boí ‘was’, Middle Welsh 3sg. bu ‘was’, Gaulish 2pl. biiete (prs. ind. or impv.), subj. buetid ‘shall be’, etc.Cf., e.g., Schumacher 2004a:241–256, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-, LIV2+s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Old English 1sg. bēom, 2pl. bīað ‘I am, you are’, Old High German 1sg. bim, 2sg. bis(t), etc., Old Norse bjó ‘lived’, Gothic bauan ‘dwell’, etc.

Cf., e.g., Seebold 1970a:112–115, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Old Lithuanian bit(i) ‘was’, Lithuanian inf. bū́ti ‘to be’, bùs ‘will be’, bū́k (… bū́k) ‘(either …) or’, etc.Cf., e.g., ALEW I:173f. s.v. bū́ti, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Old Church Slavonic byti ‘to be’, 2sg., 3sg. bystъ ‘was’, etc.Cf., e.g., EDSIL:71, LIV²:98 s.v. *b^hu̯eh₂-.

Albanian bun tr. ‘to accommodate, to give someone lodging’, itr. ‘to stay overnight, to lodge’.Cf., e.g., Schumacher & Matzinger 2013a:967.